Granted, Schubert's 8th 'Unfinished' Symphony wasn't technically his dying piece, but I can't help but feeling 'death on manuscript paper' may have a gimmick in the programmers' mind for tonight's concert at the Musiikkitalo in Helsinki - featuring the aforementioned Schubert alongside the Mahler Mastodont, the 9th Symphony.
The musicians of the FRSO were - for the most part - on fire, with the lead of the curvy Jukka-Pekka Saraste. Every individual player with some significant soloistic contributions - meaning everyone in the Mahler - brought their interpretations with unforeseen crust and character. This was most apparent in the multi-dimensional third movement:
The miniature theater of the musicians was gripping to watch. It was as if they were playing interlocking chamber-pieces on a joint stage, all in fresh pseudo-coincidental nonchalance. "So what!" cackles the triple-stranger from his untimely grave along with every sudden change of mood. When I say sudden, I really mean that while listening, I have no idea how long Mahler streches or how quickly he compresses an idea - they get centrifuged so fast that it's one and the same if he brings strands from the outside or from within the 'first bar'-nucleus. Useless to follow the entries of the theme for further than the first couple of minutes, this 3rd movement is a wave that can only be understood in hindsight. The logic burns through with the entry and exit of the klezmer band.
Burleske. So what.
