A concert to live in the memory: Blomstedt at 97 in a tender Mahler Ninth with the Philharmonia

United Kingdom Mozart, Mahler: Leonidas Kavakos (violin), Philharmonia / Herbert Blomstedt (conductor). Royal Festival Hall, London, 21.11.2024. (JR)

Mozart – Violin Concerto No.4, K.218
Mahler – Symphony No.9

As the orchestra’s CEO put it succinctly in the evening’s programme ‘This is a concert the musicians have been looking forward to for months. Blomstedt (brings)…a lifetime’s accumulated wisdom and a deep joy in sharing great music with both players and listeners, (which) seems to radiate from him…’.

But first we were treated to some early Mozart, though most of the audience had probably come for the Mahler and Herbert Blomstedt. I would have been more than happy to have had the Mahler stand by itself; such is its profound impact. Leonidas Kavakos conducted and played the Mozart with a much-reduced orchestra and it was a delight, smiles all round. Kavakos is becoming more and more of a conductor nowadays and it is easy to see why: he has a natural conducting gift and we are likely to see him increasingly on the podium. We were lucky to hear him on his Stradivarius, scampering wittily in the opening Allegro, almost singing to us in the Andante cantabile followed by a delicious Rondeau and always completely relaxed. It was as though he was playing to his friends in his drawing room, with no hint of affectation or show, just pure musicianship. During his short solo passages, you could have heard a pin drop, Kavakos holding us in the palm of his hand. A surprisingly mechanical Bach Violin Partita (No.3 in E major) followed, but the audience (and the string players in the orchestra) lapped it up.

On to the main event. Blomstedt at 97 is simply a phenomenon. He suffered a fall at the end of last year and walks gingerly – he was helped across the stage by the orchestra’s leader and the string players made a wide gangway to ensure his safety. Not so long ago, before his fall, Blomstedt would stand to conduct, quipping that chairs for conductors were for old men. Once at the podium, now seated on a piano stool throughout, there were no signs of mental ageing at all: clear entries, the beat spot on, phrasing in line with his interpretation, all done with his hands and the occasional jab.

Blomstedt is better known for his Bruckner than for his Mahler though he has recorded the Ninth and performed it recently in Finland. Blomstedt’s Mahler is not neurotic à la Klaus Tennstedt not exaggerated like Leonard Bernstein, but mellow, even more than Claudio Abbado or Bernard Haitink; one could not dispel the thought that this farewell symphony of Mahler’s (ignoring the incomplete Tenth) was Mahler’s last and this concert – let me put it delicately – might be one of Blomstedt’s last, certainly in London. But with Blomstedt you never know – he is scheduled in many orchestra’s calendars for the coming season, next I believe on January 10th and 11th at Munich’s Herkulessaal with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra playing Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms and Mendelssohn’s Second Symphony. Apparently, Sir Simon Rattle very much looks forward to attending, a great admirer of Blomstedt.

The orchestra pulled out all their stops for Blomstedt. The orchestra’s principals shone, particularly the flute (Samuel Coles). The string sound in the final Adagio was sublime, Blomstedt taking the final pages extremely slowly. It was simply breathtaking, which is exactly what Mahler wanted to portray; the audience were on their very best behaviour, not a cough or a mobile phone jingle to disturb the fragility of the music. We all held our breaths until Blomstedt, immobile for a long time after the music had finished, rested his head to receive the applause. The hall was completely full and Blomstedt received an instant standing ovation. We all hope and pray that we can continue to attend his future concerts; their quality, his quality is beyond criticism. As Blomstedt says himself ‘Music keeps me young’, an adage for us all.

John Rhodes

Featured Image: Herbert Blomstedt conducting the Philharmonia © PO/Marc Gascoigne