The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra plays Mahler's Seventh.
by Paul J. Pelkonen
Gustav Mahler’s Seventh Symphony is his least played, his least loved, and for the unwary conductor or their orchestra, the most dangerous of his symphonies. This sprawling five-movement work (sometimes referred to, though never by Mahler himself, as the "Song of the Night") is riddled with trapdoors and land mines, illusory orchestrations, unusual instrumentation (there are solos for cowbells, tambourine, mandolin and guitar) and other hazards. Messing up any of these can torpedo a performance and sink both conductor and orchestra with no survivors.
by Paul J. Pelkonen
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| Mariss Jansons at the helm of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Photo by Brescia and Amisano © 2017 the BBC Proms. |
