After devoting the first of their two proms to Mendelssohn, the main work in Riccardo Chailly and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra's exceptional second programme was Mahler's Sixth Symphony. It shared the programme with Messiaen's Et Exspecto Resurrectionem Mortuorum, presented with fabulous clarity and measured, ritual weight by Chailly and his wind and percussion players.
Chailly's credentials as one of the greatest of all Mahler conductors were firmly established during his 16 years in charge of the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. In Leipzig, it seems, his readings have become more objective, less expansive than before; the first movement had a tragic intensity that never wavered, the Andante was always kept on the move, while the scherzo had an earthy robustness, fuelled by the gutty string sound and wonderfully characterful wind. Most remarkable of all was the sheer coherence and inevitability he brought to the finale, which seemed conceived in a single, all-embracing span, ending what was one of the most remarkable Mahler performances I've heard.
Like the first, this Leipzig concert had been preceded by an afternoon organ recital given by Cameron Carpenter. Bach may nominally have dominated the programme, but Carpenter himself was the real centre of attention. At the best of times, hearing Bach played on the huge Albert Hall organ seems as incongruous as a modern symphony orchestra tackling a Brandenburg Concerto.
But when it is turned in a vehicle for flashy display, as the Fantasia and Fugue in G minor was, or the prelude from the first Cello Suite finds itself the starting point for a Wurlitzer-like pedals-only fantasy by Carpenter, and the famous solo violin D minor chaconne gets combined with the finale of Mahler's Fifth Symphony in a huge "syncretic prelude and fugue", the results are just grotesque.
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