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Prom 5: Bernard Haitink/London Symphony Orchestra/Mahler 9

20.08.09

http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/2009/whatson/2007.shtml#prom5

A few nights ago we got so many bits and pieces we don’t know where to look - how to listen rather.

For Prom 5 we got a single piece, a single author, a single conductor and a single group of players.

Bernard Hatink’s intepretation of Mahler’s titanic 9th symphony  was as singular as the conditions with which it was performed.

His vehicle - the exceptional London Symphony Orchestra – elevated each player to the role of soloist, so refined, individual and specific each single part was; gasp-inducing in the intimacy that can be relayed within such a sizeable and sprawling piece.

Haitink, now 80 years old, is the last line we have left to the great Bohemia-born composer who once described the symphony as ‘the greatest expression of human life’.

In Haitink’s hands these expressions assume an almost religious experience; the hour and twenty minute work leaving the audience changed for life.

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