Mahler's Fifth sweeps us out to sea

On Friday we went to Davies Hall for the SF Symphony's much anticipated performance of Mahler's Fifth. We (and probably most of San Francisco) have been looking forward to this one for weeks now and to say we were not disappointed would be an understatement.

The opening half -- or maybe I should say quarter, since the first two pieces were quite short -- of the program went to Carl Ruggles' "Angels" and Morton Feldman's "I Met Heine on the Rue Furstenberg." Unsurprisingly, many people chose to decline to meet Heine and they showed up after intermission. To be honest, knowing what I know now, I probably would have done the same.

But when we got back to our seats for the Mahler, everyone was ready to go, from the orchestra to the guy in front of us, who was holding his wife's hand and literally quivering with excitement.

Under MTT the Symphony's sound and control over dynamic range has been refined to near mythic levels. The first movement, with its stormy, viscous layers of harmony seems as vast as the sea, and yet, it's clear to the ear that every step has been carefully plotted for maximum effect. There's a sense of humanity confused of inexorable funereal marching, and yet, near the end of the second movement, when the brass sound an achingly beautiful theme the consonance is enough to make you cry.

The last time we heard the SFS play the Adagietto from the Mahler Fifth, I had the impression of a beautiful curtain of sound, which I didn't get at this performance. Nevertheless, the strings played brilliantly to the end, culminating in a single fading note that they carried out as if the whole section were a single organism.

People debate endlessly over the various recordings out there, some putting the 1947 Bruno Walter on top or the Boulez, or the Bernstein/ New York Philharmonic. It's all destined to change when this recording comes out, trust me.