Transformative Alchemy: Beethoven's Sixth Symphony.

An analysis of the Pastorale Symphony.

by Paul J. Pelkonen

 Beethoven and Nature.
Detail from the painting by N.C. Wyeth.

What is program music? This is a question that musicians and music critics have been wrestling with (and generally losing the match) for 200 years. The debate started in 1808, the year that Ludwig van Beethoven premiered his Symphony No. 6 in F Major, the Pastorale. While it would be Hector Berlioz who created the first detailed program for a symphony 22 years later in his Symphonie-fantastique, Beethoven pointed the way forward by substituting movement titles for the usual tempo markings. 

Opera at Random: Pelléas et Mélisande

A walk in the dark woods with Claude Debussy.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

A scene from the (rather beautiful) Robert Wilson staging of
Pelléas et Mélisande from the Opera de Paris. Photo courtesy medici.tv.

Like the forests of Allemonde, Superconductor was dark for the last week as I rested, recharged and figured out what direction I want to take this blog in next. Today, I borrowed an idea from the composer John Cage: indeterminacy. Using the shuffle function on my old 160GB iPod Classic to decide which composer I'm writing about. And the winner is: Claude Debussy and his lone opera: Pelléas et Mélisande.

The Year In Reviews 2016: Orchestral Concerts

The best bombast of the year that was.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Sir Simon Rattle did his last tour with the Berlin Philharmonic.
Photo © 2016 Berliner Philharmoniker Digital Concert Hall.

Although this has been a dreadful year in many ways, it's been a good year for classical concerts. Here are ten memorable orchestra concerts reviewed on Superconductor in 2016. And we promise, nobody died during them. As always, links lead to full reviews, all written on Superconductor.

Concert Reviews: The Children of Brahms

The Berlin Philharmonic explores the roots of atonality.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Sir Simon Rattle. Image © Berlin Philharmonic for the Digital Concert Hall.

Although the composer Johannes Brahms lived a long life, he went to his grave a bachelor and without issue. However, it can be argued that the composers of the Second Viennese School are in some ways his spiritual children. Arnold Schoenberg and his pupils Anton Webern and Alban Berg took Brahms' ideas to a logical extreme, with short, aphoristic orchestral pieces that themselves signalled a new kind of music. On Thursday night at Carnegie Hall, Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic offered an ambitious program at Carnegie Hall, placing all four composers side by side to see if this connection would become evident.

Concert Review: In Their Darkest Hour

Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall.

by Paul J. Pelkonen

The redoubtable Sir Simon Rattle brought the Berlin Philharmonic back to New York this week.
Photo by Thomas Rabsch © Thomas Rabsch licensed to Warner Brothers Classics.

The tenure of British conductor Sir Simon Rattle at the helm of the Berlin Philharmonic is coming to an end. Starting next season, the Liverpool-born conductor prepares to mount the podium of another legendary ensemble: the London Symphony Orchestra. Before that happy event, there is the business of a North American tour with the Berliners, a tour which stopped at Carnegie Hall on Wednesday night for the first of two concerts this week.

Recording Review: The Luxury Grail Package

The Herbert von Karajan Parsifal.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

King of the Grail: Peter Hofmann (center) takes over in the Herbert von Karajan recording
of Parsifal. Art © 1980 Deutsche Grammophon/UMG. 

The first notes of the Prelude seem to float out of the speakers: a rising figure for cellos and bassoons, later ornamented with shimmering strings and the lilt of harps. There are no coughs, no rustles of cloth, and when the orchestra stops, the silence is absolute. This is the opening of Herbert von Karajan's 1979-80  recording of Parsifal, Wagner's last opera. It could be argued that this Deutsche Grammophon release, which has enjoyed 35 years in the catalogue, is the finest of the Austrian conductor's nine studio recordings of the major Wagner operas.

Carnegie Hall 2016-17 Preview: Masks, Marathons, and Marvels

Ambitious 2016-17 season offers Mahler, Bruckner and a Venetian festival.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The Venetian festival La Serenissima comes to Carnegie Hall in February 2017.
Original image courtesy of  and © 2016 by Carnegie Hall. Photo alteration by the author.

For the last three years, Carnegie Hall's annual press conference unveiling the slate of its forthcoming season has been held upstairs at the no-longer-new Resnick Education Wing, atop the world-famous music hall at the corner of West 57th St. and Seventh Avenue. Today's conference featured a lengthy presentation by still-reigning Executive and Artistic Director Clive Gillinson, a conversation between Mr. Gillinson and next year's composer-in-residence Steve Reich, and the distribution of weighty vermilion folders to members of the working music press. From the looks of the schedule, next year is going to be...big.
Make that...really, really big.

Concert Review: The Duel of the Fates

The Berlin Philharmonic plays Beethoven at Carnegie Hall.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Sir Simon Rattle leads the Berlin Philharmonic.
Photo by Sebastien Grébille © 2014 The Berlin Philharmonic.

The Berlin Philharmonic has long enjoyed a sterling reputation as the crown jewel of German orchestras, helped by its location in that nation's capital and its hefty recorded catalogue under a succession of legendary music directors. Sir Simon Rattle is getting ready to wrap up his term as the orchestra's leader. And what better way to start his farewell than with all nine Beethoven symphonies, presented in a five-night marathon on the hallowed stage of Carnegie Hall? The Berliners took the stage to warm applause, with a packed house gathered to hear this venerable orchestra in the bright acoustic of Stern Auditorium.

The Once and Future Conductor

Berlin Philharmonic elects first zombie music director.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The Berlin Philharmonic's once and future music director Herbert von Karajan.
Original image © Deutsche Grammophon, altered with MakeMeZombie.Com

The Berlin Philharmonic, seeking a replacement for outgoing music director Sir Simon Rattle has elected the animated cadaver of Herbert von Karajan to lead the orchestra into the 21st century. Mr. von Karajan, who died in 1989, is the first undead music director of a major symphony orchestra and the first Berlin music director to resume his post.

The Dude Continues to Abide

An update on the current conducting carousel.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Looking California: Gustavo Dudamel has signed an extension in the City of Angels.
Photo of the conductor courtesy Universal Music Group.
Elements of movie poster for To Live and Die in L.A. © 1985 New Century Productions.

According to a report in Musical America and the New York Times today, conductor Gustavo Dudamel has deepened his relationship with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The dynamic Venezuelan conductor has changed his title with that orchestra to Artistic Director and signed a new contract extending his tenure with the orchestra through 2022.

Concert Review: Composer, Interrupted

The Berlin Philharmonic plays Schumann and Haas.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Sir Simon Rattle makes a mysterious gesture.
Photo © 2014 Berliner Philharmoniker

Although Robert Schumann lived and wrote 150 years ago, his symphonies are still fresh and revolutionary, especially when conductor and orchestra choose the original orchestrations over the composer's later revisions. On Monday night at Carnegie Hall, Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic concluded their season-opening four-concert stand with Schumann's Third and Fourth Symphonies, bookending a new work by composer Georg Friedrich Haas.

Concert Review: A Mind Beside Itself

Sir Simon Rattle conducts Schumann.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Sir Simon Rattle.
Photo courtesy the Berlin Philharmonic © 2014 Berlin Philharmonic.

Under its two most recent music directors, the Berlin Philharmonic established itself as one of the most formidable and flexible orchestras in Europe. Yet a strong sense of tradition and devotion to German music remains. On Sunday night, the orchestra addressed that tradition with the first of two Carnegie Hall concerts surveying the four symphonies of composer and critic Robert Schumann.

Concert Review: Dance Fever

The Berlin Philharmonic plays Rachmaninoff and Stravinsky.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Berlin Philharmonic music director Sir Simon Rattle.
Photo © 2014 The Berlin Philharmonic.

Wednesday night at Carnegie Hall was the opening gala, with red carpet, superstar violinist (Anne-Sophie Mutter) and a truncated one-act concert before a glittering crowd. Thursday, however was the real opening night, the first repertory concert of the season with the Berlin Philharmonic. This concert featured a reprise of the Rachmaninoff Symphonic Dances, paired with a complete performance of the full 1910 score of Stravinsky's Firebird.

Concert Review: The End is the Beginning

Anne-Sophie Mutter and the Berlin Philharmonic open Carnegie Hall.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Anne-Sophie Mutter, 2014-15 Carnegie Hall Perspectives Artist
played at opening night. Photo by Harald Hoffmann for Deutsche Grammophon.
© 2014 Universal Classics/UMG

The opening of Carnegie Hall is always a festive occasion, with red carpet laid down under the famous portico on W. 57th St., a black-tie crowd and this year, a gala dinner on the Hall's new grassy roof deck. However, the main attraction this year was that the season was opening with the Berlin Philharmonic, in town for a week of concerts, a residency that will launch not only this year's Carnegie season but Lincoln Center's own White Light Festival next week.

Obituary: Claudio Abbado (1933-2014)

An Italian conductor who defined opera and symphony.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Precision and refinement: the conductor Claudio Abbado.
Photo © Deutsche Grammophon/Universal Classics

Claudio Abbado died today at his home in Bologna, Italy, according to a report in the New York Times. In a career spanning more than half a century, Mr. Abbado served as music director of La Scala, the London Symphony Orchestra and later the Vienna State Opera and  Berlin Philharmonic.

Mr. Abbado passed peacefully following a long illness, the Times reported. He was 80.

Concert Review: The Apocalypse Watch

Sir Simon Rattle conducts Mahler's Resurrection Symphony.

Sir Simon Rattle.
Photo © EMI Classics.

When Simon Rattle was 12 years old, he went to a performance of Mahler's Second Symphony: the massive five-movement worked dubbed the Resurrection after its choral finale. The young listener immediately wanted to conduct it. Four decades later, Sir Simon Rattle sees the Resurrection as his classical calling card: the central composition of his conducting career. Small wonder that he chose this work to end his three-night stand at Carnegie Hall with the Berlin Philharmonic. The 

Since a performance of the Mahler Two usually runs about 90 minutes, it is usually not paired with works by other composers. This concert started with three short choral works by Viennese composer Hugo Wolf. The Westminster Symphonic Choir made a good case for "Fruhlingschor", from Wolf's unfinished second opera Manuel Venegas. The Wagner-inspired melodies wound forth from the orchestra, casting a brief spell that makes one want to hear more of this rare opera.

Soprano Camilla Tilling led the short "Elfenlied," evoking the Romantic side of Wolf's writing with its pixie-dust orchestration. The mini-set ended with a virtuoso performance of the challenging "Die Feuerreiter." This genuinely disturbing lied--about an arsonist who perishes in a burning mill, was performed in a complex choral arrangement that proved a welcome challenge for the Berlin players.

Maybe it's because they were warmed up from playing the Wolf pieces, but the Berlin Philharmonic played the opening funeral march of the Resurrection with unusual zeal. The basses and cellos growled out the first subject, answere by rising figures in the horns and a longing melody in the low woodwinds. Sir Simon showed his long experience with this work, letting his orchestra swagger but never sacrificing momentum. 

The ferocity of the Totenfier march gave way to the longing ländler of the second movement and the ironic, bitter pages of the central scherzo. This is some of the most difficult terrain of this symphony, as Mahler's protagonist bids a bittersweet farewell to mortality. Acceptnce comes in the ravishing "O roschen rot" sung here by mezzo Bernarda Fink. Singer and orchestra created a brief peace with this meditative movement, before the real firepower was unleashed.

Carnegie Hall is a great music venue, but its high balconies and tight backstage spaces make putting on the last movement of the Resurrection something of a challenge. Mahler calls for bell players, offstage horns, and an entire marching band in the distance depicting the rising of the dead and the build-up to the final judgement. 

Sir Simon's long experience in this symphony made this huge movement--almost a dramatic scene from an opera--move forward from one section to the next. The orchestra produced admirable effects, from the raised horns in the back proclaiming the tuba mirum to the percussion and basses going to town depicting the earth itself cracking open in a series of apocalyptic sonic blasts.

When the chorus came in, it was almost a relief, that the heavenly torments were at an end and the redemption promised in the first movement finally began to unveil itself. Ms. Tilling and Ms. Fink were added to the massed voices of the choir, and the whole work seemed to elevate into a higher plane. It was overwhelming and gloriously over the top.

Contact the author: E-mail Superconductor editor Paul Pelkonen.

Concert Review: The Door to Infinity

The Berlin Philharmonic plays the completed Bruckner Ninth.
by Paul Pelkonen.

Portrait of Sir Simon Rattle by Robert Lewis Booth.
© 2010 Robert Lewis Booth.

When Anton Bruckner died in 1896, he was working on his Ninth Symphony. He had finished three movements, but it was widely believed that the finale of this last work only existed as a few sketches, with not enough music to be performed. On Friday night at Carnegie Hall, New Yorkers were able to hear the completed symphony for the first time.

However, when a team of researchers and musicologists began investigating the composer's documents, they found (after assembling pieces of manuscript that had been taken as far as Washington D.C.) that Bruckner had indeed finished his final movement, at least up to the coda. (In a video on the Berlin Philharmonic website, music director Sir Simon Rattle explained that, in a work that was 650 bars of music, the musicologists only had to write 28 bars of music based on the composer's ideas.) The result is a giant, cosmic close to his last symphony, with huge brass figures, a massive orchestral fugue, and an organic, flowing exploration of the heavens and the ultimate meaning of life.

In 1992, when musicologists Nicola Samale and Giuseppe Mazzuca, working with John A. Philips and Benjamin-Gunnar Cohrs, produced a performing version of the final movement of this symphony. It was revised in 2005. In 2011, the revision was re-worked and premiered in Sweden under conductor Daniel Harding. This concert marked the U.S. premiere of this new revision. An earlier version by William Carragan premiered at Carnegie Hall in 1984.

Bruckner was a deeply religious man, a Catholic who saw the writing of gigantic symphonies as a way to reach upwards to heaven and offer great works "to the dear Lord." The Ninth is his ultimate statement, a confrontation with the mysteries of the beyond that moves from earth-shaking fury to a stellar, cosmic realm where only the bravest conductors may tread safely.

Sir Simon Rattle is one of these conductors. Working from memory, the British maestro wasted no time in grappling with this work's cosmic mysteries. A hushed chord for the brass stammers, as if clearing its throat. Then the strings, Wagner tubas, and heavy brass announce a stately theme of flexibility and power. This first climax was a potent, visceral moment, seeming to shake the walls of Carnegie Hall.

The second movement was even better. Based on the form of a dance, this movement was more of a mosh pit for orchestra. The timpani took the lead in this tribal, pounding rhythm, playing with a savagery that reminded one of The Rite of Spring. The trio section was the perfect contrast, with grace and even humor  leads into a theme of flexibility and power. This made the return of the head-banging main theme even more jarring.

Bruckner called the third movement of this symphony--the last he completed--his "farewell to life." But the slow movement of this symphony sounds different when heard in context and not as Bruckner's "final statement." Under Sir Simon, the Berlin strings came to the fore, delivering a deeply heart-felt performance of this tortured, heart-rending Adagio. The sound rose in a series of slow, blossoming climaxes, powered by the mighty sound of the trumpets and Wagner tubas. The final dissonance hung in the air, a profound statement in its own right.

At that point, one hard-core Brucknerian got up and left. His mistake.

Much like the last movement of the Beethoven Ninth (without the singing), the Finale of the Bruckner Ninth brings together the themes from the first three movements. The questions asked by the descending opening theme of the first movement are answered by a dissonant, raging theme from the trumpets and horns. The whole is expressed in a gigantic double fugue over a thick texture of strings. The Berlin forces poured themselves into this music. At last, the major key returned with the ringing final trumpet chorale of the new coda (built from the same theme in the preceding Adagio.) This last theme became a key to the infinite, as Bruckner's final mysteries were unlocked at last.

Contact the author: E-mail Superconductor editor Paul Pelkonen.

Concert Review: A Grand Tour of the Gilded Age

Sir Simon Rattle brings the Berlin Philharmonic to Carnegie Hall

Black-and-white brilliance. Sir Simon Rattle in action.
Photo © EMI Classics.

Mention the Berlin Philharmonic to a classical music aficionado, and you'll get a dreamy response, with memories of floor-shaking fortissimos and the flexible, powerful army of musicians that can create liquid tones of light and shade and transport a listener to a state of bliss.

Sir Simon Rattle and the orchestra in question made a welcome return to the Carnegie Hall stage on Thursday night, with a program celebrating the rapid changes in music that took place at the turn of the 20th century. In his decade at the helm of this orchestra, Sir Simon has remade the orchestra into a lean, flexible ensemble, capable of playing even the most familiar music with freshness and energy.

The four works programmed were by four different composers from different countries. But they cohered into a potent artistic statement, forming a kind of mini-symphony when played over the course of the evening. That statement started with Emmanuel Pahud's flute, leading off Debussy's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune. With this ten-minute work, Debussy has been acknowledged (for better or worse) as the composer who ended the spell of Wagner and paved the way for the 20th century.

This performance owed something to that German composer. The weary dream of the solo flute echoed passages of melting beauty in Parsifal: the sound of dappled light and softly breathing woods. Dreamy brass chords meandered into this forest of sound. An English Horn evoked a sad shepherd. And the music hypnotized, seeming to hang floating in the air as it wound to a soft close.

The "dance" movement as Antonín Dvořák's The Golden Spinning-Wheel, a late example of the composer's final style where symphonic structures were replaced by that newer form, the tone-poem. The Wheel is an effective symphony in minature, contrasting the gallop of horses through a Bohemian forest with the horrifying fate of a girl tortured and mutilated by her evil relatives. The Berlin cello section drove the piece forward, slowing for a central section that recalled the wide American vistas inspired by Dvořák's visits to the American Midwest.

The slow movement of this "mega-symphony" was Arnold Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht, played by the strings in the composer's expanded orchestration. Credit here goes to the razor-sharp string playing, evoking the drama of a man and a woman in the woods negotiating the future of their troubled relationship. Under Sir Simon's leadership, the tonal fabric was stretched to its limit, with delicate solos on the violins and violas leading towards a soft, transcendent close.

Many symphonies conclude with a theme-and-variations. In this case: Sir Edward Elgar's Enigma Variations, a kind of parlor game played by a huge orchestra. Elgar's original "enigma" has a meaning that has never been decoded by conductor, critic, or composer. But the opening theme was eloquently stated, and the tonal colors of the Philharmonic were fresh and bright. Sir Simon then launched into the astonish series of re-workings, re-orchestrations and rhythmic re-structurings. The 23 variations were divided into paragraphs of musical thought, with the whole flowing forward from his baton.

While the secret behind Elgar's musical riddle has never been cracked, it is known that each variation serves as a musical tip of the hat to all of the important people (and one dog) in Elgar's immediate social circle. As the work moved past the famous "Nimrod" variation, the orchestra began building up into a giant dance of joy. Each quarter of the ensemble was heard from in this muscular, good-natured performance, which was finally joined by the organ for a triumphant, final shout. That climax was fitting, as the last movement depicts Elgar himself.

Breaking Down Beethoven

Beethoven gets busted. Photo by the author with his iPhone.

A quick guide to the Nine Symphonies.

Today is Ludwig van Beethoven's 241st birthday: the perfect excuse to editorialize about the composer from Bonn.

For those just getting into classical music, Beethoven is often the starting point. A movie or commercial features one of his symphonies. Maybe Immortal Beloved was on cable the other night. Or your parents had a little bust in their house--usually of his scowling face. (See photo for mine.)

But buying (or downloading) your first Beethoven symphonies can be a bewildering experience. There are a lot of recordings available. Almost every conductor with a recording contract in the last 50 years recorded at least one of the symphonies--and most laid down all nine. Herbert von Karajan alone made four complete recordings of the symphonies. Other conductors (Bernard Haitink, Sir Colin Davis) also issued multiple interpretations in the course of long podium careers.

So where to begin? Let's start with a quick summary of each of the nine symphonies. 

No. 1 in C: Beethoven started on a smaller scale. The First has charm and humor with a hint of the celebrations of life to come in the later works.

No. 2 in D: Often ignored or programmed out of necessity, the Second is an engaging example of Beethoven's early style.

No. 3 ("Eroica") in E Flat: What Wagner would have called a "revolution in art." A huge expansion of the symphony in scale and power, with a funeral march that inspired generations of heavy metal fans (who also like Beethoven.)

No. 4 in B Flat: The least played and among the most rewarding symphonies: a deceptive, moody introduction leads to a bucolic close.

No. 5 in C minor: Da-da-da-DUM. The "fate" motif dominates all four movements of this famous symphony.

No. 6 ("Pastoral") in F: Beethoven goes on vacation and takes the listener to the Austrian countryside. The first popular five-movement symphony and an early example of "program music."

No. 7 in A. Still on vacation. A dramatic symphony with the second movement that was in last year's The King's Speech.

No. 8 in F.  A bustling work that still confounds listeners. Beethoven had a sense of humor. Massively underrated.

No. 9 ("Chorale") in D minor: The cycle ends with the 'Ode to Joy,' the first time voice was added to a symphony. This famous theme ends what was at the time the longest symphony ever written.

So where to begin? I always recommend that new listeners should start with the Eroica, which pretty much defines Beethoven's style and gives you a sense of what you're getting into. The Seventh and the Fifth are also good starting-points, as is the ever-popular "Pastoral." 

As for which conductor and orchestra to go with here are some guidelines:

• Karajan's earlier recordings on DG are better, (esp. the famous cycle made in 1963) with the Berlin Philharmonic.
• Modern live recordings are sometimes better than in the studio. So what if you hear someone cough--the excitement of live music-making is vital to Beethoven performances. The new Riccardo Chailly cycle and the LSO Live set with Bernard Haitink are examples of this.
• Period performances (using original instruments from the 1800s) are fine, but they may sound a little different than what you're used to. (Example: anything conducted by John Eliot Gardiner).
• "Remastered" is often a fancy record company word for "repackaged recordings."
• Analog recordings (made before 1980) may have small degrees of tape hiss, but often have more warmth and charm than chilly early digital sets. 
• Recordings made after 1995 have better sound too, because the bit-capturing process for digital recordings and the advance of DAT led to better quality in the studio.
• The best Beethoven cycles available may be cheap just because they're, y'know--OLD. There's nothing "wrong" with them--in fact some (The London cycle with Josef Krips, Otto Klemperer's set on EMI) are essential listening, and the Krips set (made at the dawn of the stereo era) is a bargain that has only recently been rediscovered.
• The Vienna Philharmonic or Berlin Philharmonic will probably be the "sound you're looking for." But there are great recordings made in the UK and North America too. 
• Anything recorded before 1955 is going to be in mono sound, not stereo. 
• You owe it to yourself eventually to hear Furtwängler, Mengelberg and Knappertsbusch conduct this music but these are older recordings that sound better to the somewhat trained ear. 
• That said, the 1951 Bayreuth recording of the Ninth (made to celebrate the re-opening of Wagner's opera festival) with Furtwängler is amazing.

Live Webcast Review: Shine a Light

Berlin Philharmonic opens with Mahler's Seventh.

Sir Simon Rattle conducts the Berlin Philharmonic. Photo by Mark Allan.

Today, the Berlin Philharmonic opened their Digital Concert Hall to the world, offering a free pass to view the orchestra's season-opening performance of Mahler's Seventh Symphony, under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle. The concert, broadcast live from the Philharmonie, the ensemble's pentagon-shaped main concert hall, marked the start of the orchestra's 2011-2012 season.

The Seventh is one of Mahler's most challenging symphonies, the bane of even the most experienced conductor. It is the last of an informal trilogy of all-instrumental symphonies with the Fifth and Sixth. Its content: four "nocturnal" movements in a row, against a fifth which is bathed in brash, arrogant daylight. Nobody is really sure what Mahler meant by that contrast, and it is that uncertainty that sinks most attempts to interpret this symphony.

Sir Simon led the orchestra in a first movement that climbed from the melancholy horn melody that opens the work (played here on a tenor Wagner tuba) to a dizzying height. The five horns contrasted the movement's heroic theme against a lush background of strings. The famous "Star Trek" trumpet solo soared forth against hushed, mysterious chords. The coda had the Berliners playing with an eloquence one normally associates with the Viennese, a quality of laughing and weeping at once that is central to Mahler.


The second movement is the first of two to be labeled Nachtmusik, a mysterious journey through the woods. Sir Simon took this trip at a fast walk, losing none of the eloquence of the horn lines and percussive detail (cowbells, col legno strings) along the way. The tempo gave a sense of urgency to the music, as if the mysterious night-time mission required stealth, speed, and care.

The third movement (marked schattenhaft ("shadow-like")) is treacherous, with its "off" rhythms and whirling figures muttered and growled in the low winds and strings. The Berliners sounded like a calliope that couldn't quite get started. Trombones, cellos and double basses played this trip-wire music with such precision that it sounded almost random in its execution, terrifying in its portent.

The massive ensemble appeared to reduce itself for the fourth movement, another Nachtmusik. This is an elegant throwback with tributes to the slow movements of Haydn, Mozart and Boccherini. The oboes, cellos and horn made eloquent contributions, and the presence of guitar and mandolin lent color to the work. In the central secton, Mahler inserts a rising melody (carried by the oboe and the violin) that offers hints for the finale.

The brass fanfare that opens the fifth movement sets the tone for the entirety of what follows. Some conductors play it a drunken village band. Others favor a more stately, orderly approach to the theme, making it sound almost like the overture to Wagner's Die Meistersinger. Sir Simon Rattle fell between the two stools offering an energetic reading of the movement but presenting the noble tones of his excellent brass section.

Low strings took up the bustling main theme of the Rondo, interrupted periodically by the brass fanfare. In the final bars, the melancholy theme of the opening movement returned, transformed by the sunnier orchestral backdrop into a solemn hymn of life. Sir Simon Rattle brought the whole to a triumphant close, shining much-needed light on this deserving and misunderstood Mahler symphony.