Mahler, Halle, Wong: Bridgewater Hall, 28/5/26

Mahler, 6^th Symphony, Kahchun Wong conductor, Halle Orchestra

I have been to many fine performances of this work over the years – conducted by Rattle, Haitink, Chailly, Bychkov, Boulez and others, the most recent Rattle and the BRSO at the Proms in September 2024, and I grew up with the Bernstein/NYPO CBS recording. I always remember reading in The Gramophone about 55 years ago that this was one of the three great A minor symphonies written in the decade before the First World War, each sharing the anxiety and doom-laded feeling of that period – the others being Elgar 1 and Sibelius 4. After these forces’ very fine Mahler 2 in January last year and at the Proms that summer, I was very much looking forward to this concert

My experience of this concert was rather overshadowed by a horrendous journey by rail from my home village to Manchester. In near 30 C heat I waited for nearly 2 hours for a train, delayed by a combination of lightning-damaged signalling and trespassers on the line. The train coming towards us stopped for half an hour to have its brakes checked. ….I was told at one point that there would be no train till 6.30pm , which would have been too late for the concert. In the end a train came about 5.40pm, just enough time for me to rush across town ,dump a heavy back pack at a hotel, and on, somewhat sweaty and frazzled, to the Bridgewater Hall.

I thought this was a very good performance, well played and structured, but maybe not the very best I have heard (that qualification as I say perhaps due to my journey.

The excellent bits were:

• it was very pleasing tbat Mr Wong put the scherzo before the slow movement,  which always makes more emotional sense to me;

• some excellent playing by the Halle. There were beautiful solos by horn and oboe, superb high trumpets and most importantly the depth, the intensity of the strings. The percussion section working over time, were very good too. The great crash of (at least) 4 sets of cymbals was as overwhelming as it should be;

• an interesting touch wad to have no less than 4 harps – I am sure i haven’t seen this many before. The harp group made a louder than usual effect – very positively so – on such moments as the rippling sounds and the off beat boinks in the fourth movement;

• a shout out too to the hammer wielder – this is always a theatrical moment but the very large gentleman wielding mallet with an extra-long handle set a new high in showmanship.

• Kahchun Wong set a quite slow and steady pace for the first movement – and offered the repeat of the exposition too. This I thought worked well . Mr Wong phrases the music in great arcs, often with quite expansive rallentandi and this in the first movement made sense. The thumping of the double basses playing the basic march music underneath much else was also brought out well. The basic pulse of the slow movement was surprisingly swift, which didn’t quite feel aligned well enough with the first two movements, but Mr Wong broadened the pace out wonderfully for the movement’s glorious climax. The way the final movement was structured by Mr Wong was also very finely done. The building up of layer on layer of tension, the three great climaxes, the relaxation of tension without losing onward momentum – all these were finally achieved. The final explosion was powerful enough to make some near me visibly jump in their seats.

Perhaps the two disappointments (one of which is scarcely fair) is that 1. the scherzo didn’t seem angry or bitter enough – perhaps too slow and pulled about a bit too much; 2. The Halle is not the Berlin Phil or the BRSO,  and it would be unfair to expect it to be. It is a very fine orchestra, but occasionally you hear micro-wobbles, tiny hesitancies, which do not feature in the fierce virtuosity of their European cousins. Just occasionally these skewed my focus.

But this was in general a very fine ending to the Halle’s ‘season’ , enhanced by its MD saying there had been a 30% increase in attendance over the past few years (which I am sure is partly to do with Mr Wong – it’s therefore disappointing he’s only conducting 4 Halle concerts next year) , and also by meeting an old friend (and his old friend) unexpectedly afterwards and going for a drink with him.