Gilbert Kaplan has built his entire conducting career on Mahler's Symphony No 2 (Resurrection), and it is easy to see why. It is arguably Mahler's most immediate, optimistic and sentimentally powerful symphony - and this interpretation was powerful and persuasive.
These days one can take the Hallé's excellent standards more or less for granted, so the main interest in this performance was initially all about Kaplan. Directing without a score, he evidently knows his Mahler intimately. Kaplan's management of the symphony was consistently refreshing, akin to witnessing the restoration of a renaissance painting.
The opening of the Allegro maestoso, with brooding strings and fatalistic brass fanfares, made it clear that Kaplan was going to provide a vivid piece of psychological and spiritual theatre. All subsequent musical elements sounded spontaneous, with every strand of Mahler's dense construction crystal clear. The perpetual shifts between optimistic joy and inconsolable torment were seamless, with pastoral and softer emotions sculpted with a great deal of love.
There was a feeling of "rightness" throughout, especially in the Andante moderato, which seemed unusually close to a Haydn minuet. This was contrasted with the insanity, irreverence and hedonistic cynicism of the third movement. Yet the highlight was Urlicht, sung by Alice Coote. Not since Janet Baker have we had such a fine British mezzo-soprano. Her blissful and slightly subdued first phrase "O Roschen rot!" was enough to melt even the most atheistic heart.
The last movement hinted at and crept towards the resurrection. The opening of the graves, depicted by a crescendo from a battery of percussion, was fearsome, terrible and awesome. The suspense before the appearance of the light of God was tangible, and the entry of the chorus was breathtaking. Soprano Susan Chilcott added some warmth and humanity, but the Hallé Choir and Leeds Festival Chorus combined to produce a glorious realisation of absolute joy and peace. It is a great tribute to Kaplan that this fabulous performance turned out to have its focus firmly on Mahler's magnificent and vindicatory music.
