Cross-posted, slightly edited, from the Mahler-List.

Leonard Slatkin and the National SO performed a blazing, take-no-prisoners
M5 at the Kennedy Center Saturday night.  The NSO had it all:  great
balance, nearly note-perfect execution, beautiful pizzicato playing in the
Viennese settings, and, when necessary, overwhelming volume that had me
pinned to the back of my seat.  But what was most impressive to me was what
I'm interpreting as Slatkin's belief in the work and the way he conveyed
that through the NSO.  He played up all the interludes and contrasts that
make this symphony unique, yet never lost sight of the overall structure.
To me, he had a vision about how he wanted it to sound, and he made it work

Matthias Goerne opened the program with the Rueckert songs.  Just as the
audience was settling in, the last stragglers approached their seats in the
very front row of the KC Concert Hall, not looking up at Goerne or hurrying
too much.  It's a long walk from the doors.  Goerne waited patiently as
they came up.  When they sat down, he greeted them with a few words and a
smile.  Talk about bringing the house down.  He won over the audience with
that simple gesture.  And then, Ich atmet' einen linden Duft!.  There's
something about that celesta that immediately transports me.  The violins'
(not split tonight) "bee-like" figure was perfectly balanced.  The
Washington Post's review of Goerne's first of three performances,

   http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36085-2002Apr12.html

noted that the few balance issues that were evident on Thursday night
should be ironed out in subsequent performances.  They sure were on
Saturday.  The KC, with its excellent acoustics, was a great venue for
Goerne, at least where I was sitting.  In the songs, Slatkin did a great
job.  There were a number of times where he allowed the orchestra to blast
out the beauty of these pieces, yet he always brought it back just in time
to the right balance so that Goerne would not be overwhelmed.  IMO, he did
a better job of adapting the orchestra to the singer than did Chailly (for
Goerne as well), last year in Lincoln Center.  Those voice/horn duets had
to be heard to be believed.  In fact, Martin Hackelman, the NSO horn
principal, was a star of the show himself.  Subtle where needed, painfully
loud where called for, he lent a color to the proceedings that had me
shaking my head in awe repeatedly.  Ich bin der Welt was stunning.  Goerne
gave it his all, and Slatkin emphasized all the right details.  The
devastating dissonance near the end of the piece was *very* prominent,
with Slatkin evidently viewing it as the climax of the piece.  I couldn't
agree more.  Only at the very end of Um Mitternacht was Goerne somewhat
overwhelmed by that huge sound and large hall.  I, and the audience, didn't
care.  This was truly an exceptional performance of these Mahlerian gems.
Goerne was brought out three times, and I can't wait for him to put his
thoughts about the three song cycles on disc.

Steven Hendrickson, the NSO trumpet principal, got the symphony off to a
brilliant start by nailing the fanfare.  Slatkin didn't start conducting
until the downbeat to the big chord, which must have lifted people off
their seats it was so loud.  (Side anecdote:  On the ride home, I told my
kids that I still can't understand Slatkin's conducting mannerisms and how
they relate to what's going on on-stage.  My daughter, a high-school-aged
but experienced musician, said, "He gave a downbeat once in a while.")
This was a savage funeral march.  Again, a study in contrasts.  Slatkin
emphasized a lot of little details, yet I never got the feeling that he
was putting a puzzle together; I felt he always had a sense of where he
was going.  Balances were exceptional, not only between sections.  You
could hear the harp well, and the tam-tam was just right.  As we couldn't
actually see it being struck, it made it that more mysterious and
forbidding.  Classical Net members may be familiar with Gilbert Kaplan's
article in the New York Times earlier this year, in which he argues
convincingly that the final note of this movement should be taken piano,
sforzando, rather than the loud thwack that is more common these days.
This now famous last note was -- there's no more appropriate way to
describe it -- Kaplanesque:  soft, emphasized.  My daughter, who is usually
indifferent to doctrinal matters such as this, agreed that the soft stroke
is right.  Surely this is what Mahler wanted.  I wonder if Slatkin read the
article.

There is so much energy in II and III, even on disc.  In last night's
performance, we were on a captive ride through Middle Mahler that, I'm
sure, nobody wanted to stop.  The preview of the final chorale in II by far
met my expectations, and of course made me want to sing out.  I clenched
my hands so as not to start "conducting." The Alpine horns in III could
have been just a hair louder, but Hackleman in the horn solo immediately
afterward inflicted the requisite amount of note-perfect pain.  In fact,
my wife said that this was the first time that a live performance had
ever hurt her ears.  Good, said I, there has to be some pain involved;
the symphony should embrace the world (to general groans all around).
I couldn't help recall Ben Zander's point, made on his M5 lecture disc,
about this symphony containing some of the loudest music in the repertoire.
About the only benchmark of excellence that wasn't met last night, IMO,
was the bass drum solo that kicks off the mad rush to the finish in III.
Not prominent enough from my seat.  This was my only problem with the NSO
percussionists, who were otherwise note-perfect and in just-right dynamic.

The Adagietto clocked in at 9:57, again with beautiful balance.  The harp
was situated right in the middle of the orchestra.  I've always wanted
two harps in this symphony.  The second harp would be deployed at only
one moment, in the roaring fff climax in II where there's a huge upward
glissando that is so necessary yet tends to get swallowed up by all the
other stuff that's going on.  The portamento at RN3 was noticeable but not
especially prominent.  I was hoping for a bit more.

Talk about a study in contrasts, is there a more stark one than the fall
of night at the end of the Adagietto and Nature waking up to a new dawn
at the beginning of V? The quote from Lob des hohen Verstandes was so
jaunty it made me chuckle.  I thought Slatkin moved the finale along very
quickly.  As it is taken attaca from the Adagietto, it is easy to time.
And I wasn't imagining things:  It came in at 14:27, very brisk, but I
didn't feel it was rushed.  On my recordings, Shipway runs through it at
14:33, Bernstein/VPO takes it at 15 minutes even, Chailly and Scherchen are
at 15:14, and Zander takes it at 16:03; Barbirolli's famous finale comes in
at 17:32.  So this was an even more headlong rush to joy than most.  The
climax of the piece was no less than what we expected given what had gone
before:  loud, in perfect balance and ensemble, and oh so right.  Immediate
Standing O by the audience, totally deserved in my opinion.  We roared our
approval of Hendrickson and especially Hackelman, and brought out Slatkin
three times.

What to make of Slatkin? I've seen him do Mahler 5, 6, and 7, and he has
been totally convincing in all three.  And I've gone on record several
times in noting that he held what is believed to be the first festival ever
dedicated to the Retuschen.  So, yes, he's a Mahlerian.  Now if we can only
get him to stop saying things like "There's more to being a conductor than
having the best version of Mahler 6th," or words to that effect (from a
Washington Post article last year).  Well, let him say what he wants.
Last night's concert with Goerne and M5 was a performance to remember.

Mitch Friedfeld