Elizabeth Barnette's review of the Staatskapelle Berlin's third and fourth concert…
in Carnegie Hall's "Mahler: The Symphonies in Sequence" series are now live at Classical Source (here and here). My review of the fifth concert has also been posted.
A few of my colleagues were startled at my strongly negative review of the first concert, but I stand by it. Barenboim's second stint on the podium was a far better affair than the opening night of the series, and I still have strong reservations about his overall approach to Mahler, though large stretches of last evening's concert seemed far less "micromanaged" and were enormously edifying.
And yes, I have been tough on the Staatskapelle Berlin – due in no small part to the strongly favorable impression left by their polished and distinguished recent recordings and DVD. On the Carnegie stage they have been enormously inconsistent – but at their best, they are a world-class orchestra. I don't believe, as one of my friends incorrectly inferred from my reviews, that they are out of their depth in this challenging repertoire – I just wish their performances would rise to a uniform level of excellence that matches their clear enthusiam for Mahler's music.
