Although we are barely into the second of the composer's consecutive anniversary years, our concert halls currently seem awash with Mahler's music. Judged by the highest standards, this performance of the Fifth Symphony by the London Philharmonic under guest conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin seemed rather ordinary – though it had some extraordinary moments.
Technically, Nézet-Séguin is an accomplished exponent of this music, and the players responded keenly to his unflagging energy and focused attack. But for much of the course of this complex work, its extremity of gesture felt underplayed. Few composers drew on such a wildly eclectic diversity of material as Mahler; the violence of his juxtapositions, and even collisions, is meant to be shocking.
Nézet-Séguin controlled the vast structure finely, but passages that should prove overwhelming were here brilliantly effective without carrying the vehement charge of existential angst they need to convey. Much of the adagietto felt too tangible for its vision to move profoundly, though it increased in delicacy as it went on. Nézet-Séguin reserved his best for the last, the latter part of the finale achieving a sense of elation – founded on some world-class playing from the orchestra, especially the brass section – that was truly triumphant.
Some of the same brilliance that marked the Mahler shone in Beethoven's Emperor Concerto in the first half. Soloist Nicholas Angelich, again technically unimpeachable, gave a grand-scale performance, locating the work firmly as the progenitor of the Romantic virtuoso concerto tradition that continued up to Rachmaninov. Yet despite occasions of subtlety, including some appealingly light impressionistic washes in the passage work, the overall boldness of approach was inclined to harden into brashness.