CSO’s Mahler mini-fest opens with a rushed and shallow Seventh
Buckle up. It’s going to be an interesting four weeks of music in Chicago.
Music director designate Klaus Mäkelä returns next week for his only Chicago Symphony Orchestra appearances of the season, leading two weeks of concerts. And this week, the orchestra opened a kind of Mahler mini-fest, with three of the Austrian composer’s symphonies to be performed over the next four weeks.
The primary reason is the CSO’s upcoming European tour with conductor Jaap van Zweden, which will include appearances at the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra’s Mahler Festival in Amsterdam next month. Fortunately, those of us stuck in the hometown bleachers will derive some practical benefit from the tour with two works featured in Amsterdam also to be prepped and performed locally. And with no Mahler on the CSO schedule next season, a spring Gustav binge is welcome, whatever the circumstances.
First up in this Mahler Mini-Me fete was the composer’s Symphony No. 7, performed by the CSO under van Zweden Thursday night.
Few American orchestras hold a more distinguished Mahler lineage than the Chicago Symphony and the connection is more historically freighted with the Seventh than most of his works. The CSO gave the American premiere of the Seventh under Frederick Stock in 1921 (albeit in a heavily cut version) and the work has done well with the CSO on disc with three excellent recordings to date. Claudio Abbado‘s extraordinary 1984 CSO performance (Deutsche Grammophon) is, arguably, the greatest recording ever made of the work.
The Seventh is on a vast scale, cast in five large movements, scored for huge forces and running 80 minutes. Yet while there are typically dark and sardonic moments in the progress of this nocturnal journey, contrasts abound with music that is also lyrical and intimate—not least the second “Nachtmusik” movement, a serenade with guitar and mandolin.
Van Zweden has shown himself an often insightful Mahlerian in previous CSO stands, notably a powerful Symphony No. 6 in 2022, a work he will lead again downtown and on tour next month.
There was much to admire in this Seventh. With all the principal players on stage at the same time—a rare happening these days at Orchestra Hall—the playing of the CSO for much of the evening sounded like the venerable crack Mahler band of decades past. The horn section was most impressive, cohesively blended and technically polished, a far cry from some of the scarily unsettled outings of last year. The orchestra tackled the numerous myriad challenges of the score most impressively in solos, by section and as a corporate entity. Individual standouts were numerous, including concertmaster Robert Chen, bass trombone Charles Vernon, tuba player Gene Pokorny, clarinetist Stephen Williamson, and trumpet Esteban Batallan, back from his voluntary exile in Philadelphia.
The frustrating thing was that so much wonderful playing by the musicians was at the mercy of such a bland and pedestrian interpretation, as directed by van Zweden.
The Dutch conductor set a typically fast pace from the jump with a forceful, emphatic approach, which was initially bracing and attention-getting. Firm momentum is never a bad thing in the Seventh, one of Mahler’s more unwieldy works.
But as this performance unfolded, it gradually became clear that van Zweden’s Seventh offered strong forward motion and clear-cut balancing but little else.
To call this Seventh “soulless” would be too harsh. Yet time and again, Mahler’s extreme contrasts—in dynamics, timbres and material—were ironed out and oversimplified. Dynamics consistently leaned toward the loud side with pianissimo markings either underplayed or ignored. Col legno bow taps and pizzicatos had little edge or intensity. Music that cries out for space to make expressive impact—the lyrical theme of the opening movement or the second Nachtmusik—felt rushed through at van Zweden’s impatient tempos.
The first Nachtmusik felt pallid and undercharacterized, conveying little of the “night patrol” quality of this unsettling quasi-march. The shadowy central Scherzo, one of Mahler’s darkest inspirations, was hardly ominous or disturbing, its pointed deconstruction of the Viennese waltz barely discernible. Mahler’s mordant humor was wholly missing in action with van Zweden’s straight-faced style.
The composer’s most individual and quirky scoring inspirations often failed to pay off. There was zero charm in the ersatz Italian serenade of Nachtmusik II with the guitar nearly inaudible. (The mandolin fared better, played by doubling violinist Simon Michal.) The offstage cowbells in the second movement were far too present and loud—rather than the mysterious, spiritual quality Mahler requested, it sounded more like a hobo was casually rummaging through an ironworker’s dustbin.
Ultimately, this was a rushed, shallow and uninvolving Seventh, for all the excellent playing of the musicians.
Surprisingly, the crazed finale came off best, with van Zweden belatedly pointing up the extremes and drawing out the contrasts. Yet even here, the worlds-collide style—with its constant gearshifts, Wagner quotations and multiple false endings—lacked an essential infectious spirit, and one reached the symphony’s coda with more a sense of relief than exultation.
Let us hope for better things next week when Klaus Mäkelä leads Mahler’s Symphony No. 3.
The program will be repeated 1:30 p.m. Friday and 7:30 p.m. Saturday. cso.org
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10 Responses to “CSO’s Mahler mini-fest opens with a rushed and shallow Seventh”
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Posted Apr 18, 2025 at 11:42 am by Peter Borich
Pretty much spot on review. The extra cowbell of a trumpet mute bouncing into the woodwind section in the second movement was a masterful addition to the score.
Posted Apr 18, 2025 at 11:56 am by Dave
I agree 100%. Nothing to add to your fine review other than to say this conductor has a tendency to be tense and hard driven in almost everything, his restless and wicked beat never allowing the music to relax. This is a problem in a vast work like Mahler 7.
Posted Apr 18, 2025 at 12:00 pm by Matt
Exactly! I’ve been trying to understand how a symphony that was so well played by the performers could be at the same time an absolutely dull flat mediocre performance. It didn’t sparkle. It was murky and heavy and lost. It just didn’t flow. Transitions were awkward, releases were inelegant or at times non-existent. Phrases went nowhere.The orchestra sounded good and the performers were brilliant but it was a disappointing performance.
One more note….some *ss just couldn’t wait for the final note to release before he interrupted with a shout of Bravo. After 80 minutes, could have at least waited for a couple of seconds of silence, and not ruined the moment?
Posted Apr 18, 2025 at 2:41 pm by Stickles
Indeed many concertgoers would agree with this review. Personally I was thoroughly entertained last, not by the interpretation of the music, but by the technical prowess exhibited by the orchestra. The horns were glorious and I am elated that Mark Almond has finally found his groove. I was giddy to see Batallan on stage again. His penetrating sound was especially effective in Mahler, as the bugle is often the hero in his symphonies.
Look elsewhere if you are seeking a personal or spiritual connection to Mahler’s music, but if you just want to experience Mahler’s neuroticism splattered across an uneven canvas, this may just be the ticket.
Posted Apr 18, 2025 at 4:34 pm by John Abbott
I concur in the disappointment, though for me it was the final movement that was the greatest letdown. Perhaps I will be forever spoiled by the remarkable BPO performance of Mahler’s 7th a couple years back, to which this iteration compared poorly. But where the BPO was all machine-tooled precision and white-knuckle bravado, last night’s performance often veered into frantic muddle, even with, as you note, some stellar contributions (the CSO’s horn section was the best I’ve heard in a long time).
The audience seems to have loved it, and I’m always happy to see Mahler get his due, but this was substandard music-making.
Posted Apr 18, 2025 at 4:47 pm by Mike
We went to the performance today (Friday afternoon) and it was electric. Review makes some valid points. But on the whole it was mesmerizing.
Second movement in particular, in my view, with segments capturing the grotesque and for a few minutes toward the end of that movement, the delerious. Worth experiencing.
Posted Apr 18, 2025 at 6:00 pm by John La Marre
Re: Friday 1:30 performance:
I was on the edge of my seat during the entire production. Mike Mulcahy led the way with his flawless baritone horn. (I never realized that he also played that instrument.) The return of Batallan was spectacular, and Mark Almond was on top of his game. I thought the orchestra responded favorably to the conductor.
Posted Apr 18, 2025 at 6:13 pm by Jim McMillan
I couldn’t disagree more with Lawrence Johnson on this one. The 7th, like the 4th, is a mere pit stop in the Mahlerian repertoire. The van Zweden interpretation was in line with the oft-sited Abbado recording of the CSO. It is hardly a Mahler composition that can be milked for emotion that isn’t there. Indeed, Mahler conducted the premiere at a sprightly 72 minutes – and the range of performance time ranges more than any other Mahler work. Maestro van Zweden instead focused on the intensely personal playing that came from the entire orchestra in a manner rarely heard anywhere.
The comment about the “Bravo” shout is well taken. Audience respect continues to decline along with much of the population.The scattered end-of-movement applause is one thing, the baseball caps are another element.
And why in the world did the CSO allow late arrivals to disrupt rows of seating on the main floor between movements 2-3? A large group of music students from South Carolina were a bright spot, but real musicians always show respect for their peers.
With next week’s Mahler 3 requiring even more audience concentration and end-of-symphony restraint, I’m shuddering just thinking of what we’re in store for.
Posted Apr 21, 2025 at 9:41 am by Mike T.
Saw the concert Saturday and enjoyed it, although the review makes some valid points. Van Zweden is a strong conductor (his Mahler 1 with the CSO in 2011 was one of the best I’ve ever heard), but his approach to the 7th was more hard driving than I usually like, especially the three inner movements which, although very well played, were pretty much lacking in atmosphere and evocation.
However, a strong and sturdy finale saved the day, and the audience burst into very enthusiastic applause at the end, especially for the horns and trumpets, who were superb throughout.
Posted Apr 21, 2025 at 8:19 pm by Carter Martin
I attended the concert on Saturday, and I was left absolutely frustrated by the lack of depth in Van Zweden’s interpretaton. While his typical forceful, driving approach suited the first movement very well, the remainder of the work simply wilted under his single-minded flogging of tempi. Nothing was allowed to breathe, and what is meant to be Mahler’s quirkiest symphonic offering was reduced to a feckless, uninteresting bore. The finale, which is meant to be a joyous satirical romp, came off sounding more like a hyperactive aural headlock.
Yes, the CSO was at its virtuosic best, no question, but what’s the point of playing brilliantly if all you have to offer is surface sheen? A thorough disappointment.