Hannu Lintu leads Malaysian Philharmonic in Haydn 103 and Mahler 10

Haydn: Symphony no. 103 in E flat "Drumroll"

Mahler: Symphony no. 10 (Cooke edition)

Being a Mahler nut, I attended two concerts consecutively on Saturday and Sunday. The audience attendences are a little odd, with virtually full house on Saturday and 70% filled hall on Sunday. Saturday had "backup" audiences in form of a battalion of Malaysian Philharmonic Youth Orchestra(MPYO) members chartering their own bus for the performance. I doubt they're called by MPO management to fill up the seats because even the very-frontal seats which is a little too close to stage is filled with brim, so yeah they forked out their own cash for the bus rental and tickets.

Now first with Haydn. Maestro Lintu gave a very immaculate performance of the "Drumroll" symphony. Wah brother, u sure with that word ah? Of course it wasn't totally spotless, with some minor glitches here and there (especially some delays and slips by the winds). Maybe it doesn't help that this is my first time listening the symphony (listen to knives sharpened). I thought Haydn symphonies are a bore compared with Mozart (or classical style Beethoven of 1 & 2) but this strucks out as my favourite Haydn symphony (period duh). No wonder Haydn has always been known as a "wicked" composer with humour especially the idea of long timpani roll opening the first movement. In his notes, Marc Rochester wrote that the timpani roll mimics the longtime tradition of announcement of monarch's arrival and playing of national anthem. Of course the English audiences were thoroughly owned when they realise it was just Haydn's gimmick of "attention-whoring" (dodges knives). I find it fascinating also that the first four notes of opening Adagio matches the "Dies Irae" chant before the movements goes to typical happy skipping of Allegro tune and the first two movements has ambigous keys moving between C minor and E flat major. It is one of those few tonal works where you can't bloody tell whether the piece is obviously major or minor in mood. It is a little similar to Mozart's 40th symphony in G minor in terms of its melancholic mood and harmony. The orchestra is a little too large for a classical work but then on the day of premiere there was 60 performers performing the symphony so it ain't much of a big deal. Maestro Lintu does an excellent job managing the contrast of dynamics, careful phrasing of nuances and some observation on HIP playing.

The Mahler was painful to sit initially in the Adagio on Saturday. Violins were very patchy as if they haven't played for days, phrasing was flat and tension especially dynamics were nonexistent. I felt as I regretted buying two tickets for two friends I was going to invite and one for myself. Things were catching up in the next Scherzo, despite the horns collapsed out of tune a few minutes into entry. Despite odd changes of metre which foretells Stravinsky, the MPO managed to play everything into order, not as Cleveland-laser perfect but good enough not to collapse into heap of noise. Yes, the brasses especially horns are struggling to get in tune but there is much character in their playing so credit to them. The following Purgatorio had a sinister air in its mood followed by raucous intrusion by the brasses and playful winds. Lintu whips the orchestra straight into the following Scherzo without respite and he manages to convey the dualistic conflict and increasing frustration of Mahler's state of mind, piling up demonic scherzo with a light-hearted waltz on top of another with the scherzo getting increasingly violent in every turn culminating in a collapse that leads into a ghostly procession leading us into the Finale.

History tells that the movement was inspired by Mahler observing a funeral procession of a New York fireman which the drum beat was heard. The air was initially filled with death and nihilism as Brett Stemple's tuba solo was heard, interuptted by a loud twack from the bass drum a few times. It leads to ethereal flute solo, played beautifully by Hristo Dobinov which brings peace and gradual modulation to B major and climax before being cut by the same drum twack (reminds me of Mahler 6th). A nervous Allegro follows after the darkness but only I notice during the performance the "death" motif heard persistently everywhere to almost a point of parody. Even the harsh climax that came seems rushed, but then this is a unfinished work. A long, traquil, hymn-like melody follows in what seems like a period of reflection before leading to a final climax of reconciliation and longing for Alma, one of most heartful and moving passages in history of music. All the MPO players need to do was to wear the music to their sleeve and they did a pretty fine job, and my bit of gripe is the lacking extra tension in the strings. Despite flaws, the MPO was showered with appreciative applause by the audiences and a foreign patron remarked to me "That was the most beautiful piece of music I've ever heard".

The MPO improved on the following day with the Adagio properly shaped in phrasings and nuance and the Finale played a little bit more movingly that previous night. I think its a pity Kees Bakels did not get to conduct this work since he did indicate he wanted to conduct it with MPO, but credit to maestro Lintu for still a remarkable job, especially the middle Scherzos. If you observe the player roster, there are quite a number of substitute players flown in (especially this female clarinettist whom my eyes were fixated for some number of times, hehe). The cor anglais solo player looked like as if he belonged in a rock band, but credit for his terrific solos. I cannot figure out what Mahler MPO will play next season as they will either rehash or premiere the momentous 3rd symphony for next season.