Other conductors and orchestras have taken a historically informed view of Mahler – Roger Norrington was among the first, and more recently Les Siècles – but the logical conclusion drawn by the Mahler Academy Orchestra at this penultimate Prom still had the power to shock an audience to its core. Their intention was to perform on – and push to the limits – the instruments the composer would have known, replicating period technique to explore what musicians of the day would have considered beautiful and what might have been thought vulgar (bearing in mind Mahler himself was frequently accused of questionable taste).
It’s the brainchild of conductor Philipp von Steinaecker who scoured auction rooms and attics seeking out antique Viennese brass and woodwind, French harps, Turkish cymbals (smaller than you might think) and the humongous tubular bells Mahler demanded but rarely got. Gut strings and minimal vibrato were expected, but the extremes of portamento and rubato deployed in this radical performance of the Ninth Symphony stretched an ear-opening interpretation almost to breaking point. The result, even for seasoned original instrument fans, was a magical mystery tour through an alien musical landscape.
The orchestral layout adopted was similarly original, with basses up high behind the brass, strings divided either side of the conductor and harps and horns on the audience’s right instead of the usual left. It took a while for the ear to adjust. The first movement felt a touch self-conscious, with scooping portamenti and spotlighted instrumental solos that seemed to cry out “listen to the kind of noises I can make”. The playing nevertheless was superlative, with magnificently secure horns, bright, needling trumpets, woody flutes and the spiciest of oboes, all of them poking their heads through cotton candy clouds of gut strings.
The clodhopping Ländler, which often comes over a trifle tipsy, was practically paralytic here, its dramatic transitions sinking into a final drunken stupor. The Rondo-Burleske snorted and snarled, the orchestral motor firmly in overdrive. The elegiac finale was breathtaking as Steinaecker steered the silken Academy strings towards a pin-drop conclusion. It set the seal on a trailblazing performance that will surely be talked about for years to come.
Available on BBC Sounds until 12 October.
