Tokyo Performances

Mahler 7th

New Japan Philharmonic
Conducted by Christian Arming
13 September 2007
Suntory Hall

A good performance of the middle three movements. Some ragged sounds in the first. The final movement has always seemed to me to be problematic - what was Mahler thinking of? What was he trying to do? This performance added little to my understanding of the symphony, but I was engaged through its 80 minutes. Maestro Arming swoops and makes grand gestures to the orchestra, but they seem to be paying little attention to that. Certainly there seems to be little correlation between his gestures and the sound. Theatrics.

posted by Larry Wells @ 11:49 AM