# Osmo Vänskä - Mahler #7 in Helsinki



## Xaltotun

What a monstrous 1st movement. I've never heard it performed like this. Like a one-legged, limping zombie, alternating between tense agony and ferocious outbursts. Imbalance, tension, rage. I've also never before thought that this movement is so _heroic_. Like swallowing a bitter pill willingly, going resolutely into the darkness with the full knowledge that one is probably going to be destroyed.

The famous lines by Dylan Thomas sum this up:

"Do not go gentle into that good night
Rage, rage against the dying of the light"

A great concert - perhaps the best I've ever participated in. Oh, and the other movements were good as well, but it's the 1st movement that made the muse descend on my keyboard.


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## musicker

I'm visiting Helsinki at the moment and was at the concert: totally blown away. it was indeed a great evening and I think this performance was unmissable. Hugely impressed by the RSO's playing and Vanska's handling of this extraordinary score -- not to mention the acoustics of this new Music centre which enabled me to hear details in the orchestration you can't even pick up on the best recordings.


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## Ukko

Xaltotun said:


> What a monstrous 1st movement. I've never heard it performed like this. Like a one-legged, limping zombie, alternating between tense agony and ferocious outbursts. Imbalance, tension, rage. I've also never before thought that this movement is so _heroic_. Like swallowing a bitter pill willingly, going resolutely into the darkness with the full knowledge that one is probably going to be destroyed.
> 
> The famous lines by Dylan Thomas sum this up:
> 
> "Do not go gentle into that good night
> Rage, rage against the dying of the light"
> 
> A great concert - perhaps the best I've ever participated in. Oh, and the other movements were good as well, but it's the 1st movement that made the muse descend on my keyboard.


Thanks for the report; I've passed it on to a Helsinki-ite friend.


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## Vaneyes

Performance link.

http://areena.yle.fi/tv/1668972

After viewing, I came away impressed with much of the playing. However, I thought they were handicapped some by Vanska's interpretation, particularly in movements 1 - 3. Vanska was tight on the reins, hushing dynamics (as he's known to do), and not taking full advantage of Mahler's attacks and accents.

For a while, most of the way through the 1st movement, I didn't know if this symphony was going to fly. A few flubs amongst too-hushed sonorities, and where was the bottom end--celli and double bass?

Vanska chose a graduated build-up, which isn't a surprise for a lyrical interp. But it's more interesting if you insert a Mahler growl or snort now and then.


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