Mahler's Ninth at the SF Symphony

I love leaving a show feeling all weak-kneed and exhausted.

I don't think that before the Symphony started their Mahler cycle, I would have said, "Mahler-- What a brilliant way to show off the dynamic range and soul of your orchestra!" I'm sure my Dad would have set me straight on that point, but there's no need to do so anymore, since I have become a Mahlerian. Ever since I was shot through the stomach by the Mahler Hammer when the Symphony offered us their towering version of the Sixth, we haven't missed a one.

The Ninth, so different in tone, but more rewarding in many ways, was exquisitely rendered by the Symphony on opening night. Never has a string armada sounded so layered and rich to me, or so balanced dynamically against the wind section. The horn solos, slightly problematic at times, were nonetheless stirring, and by the time the final movement, with its whispering swells, died away, the audience was left in a puddle.

The only thing that marred an otherwise perfect performance was the presence of a patron in the orchestra with some kind of oxygen support device. Throughout the evening, the click and whoosh of the device could be heard throughout the section of the orchestra I sat in. A reminder of fragile mortality, I suppose, but in the end, one which only frustrated and irritated patrons.