Double slice of heaven for Mahler and Bruckner fans

Mahler one night, Bruckner the next made for a double slice of heaven for lovers of the late Romantic Viennese symphony blockbusters.

Australian conductor Simone Young always gets an ovation before a note is played.

• Gold standard Goldberg
• Strains of Spain flowed mainly from the Seine
• Brandies take to the Silk Road
• Verdi's hunch very well played

MAHLER one night, Bruckner the next: that’s heaven on a stick for lovers of the late Viennese Romantic school of composers and it comes with extra topping when the Mahler is his sixth symphony conducted by Australian national treasure Simone Young.

Based in Europe, Young’s frequent visits home fill seats and bring a cheer from the audience, even before a note is played. Her legion of fans will welcome Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s decision to engage her for a three-year cycle of concerts Visions of Vienna from next year.

Her handling of Mahler’s massive sixth — with its broad emotional sweep from the chilling marching rhythms of the opening to the three “hammer blows of fate” in the finale — was edge-of-the-seat stuff.

After the march comes Mahler’s soaring love song for his wife Alma and Young managed to maintain the insistent momentum of this movement. Her enormous forces, under guest concertmaster Canadian Nikki Chooi, who led the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in New York, were in spectacular form. The strings had an extra bite and Young brought an organic feel to the chilling harp and celesta sequences.

OVATION

Debate has raged over for years what should come next — the andante or the scherzo? Young stuck with Mahler’s original intention for the andante to be played as the second movement, not his widow’s insistence that it should be the scherzo.

Whatever the preference, this was a magnificent performance with principal horn Ben Jacks earning a standing ovation for his massive contribution.

SSO principal horn Ben Jacks earned his ovation.

Earlier Malaysian-born Australian tenor Steven Davislim gave a rare performance of Benjamin Britten’s Les illuminations — settings of poems by Arthur Rimbaud, which proved to be the perfect pipe-opener.

It’s not often you get to hear a live performance of one of Anton Bruckner’s massive symphonies and having it played by a youth orchestra is a once in a lifetime experience.

But Sydney Youth Orchestras are not your normal run of nursery bands of musicians in training for greater things. Under artistic director and conductor Alexander Briger they are a force to be reckoned with.

EXHILARATING

It’s no coincidence that he chose the colossal Eighth — the same work his friend Sir Simon Rattle performed with Briger’s other brainchild the Australian World Orchestra three years ago.

Alexander Briger conducted the Sydney Youth Orchestra’s Bruckner performance from memory.

Conducting from memory, Briger led the flagship SYO through an exhilarating 90 minutes or music which oscillates between Schubertian melody and Wagnerian heft — the nine french horns and Wagner tubas barely have time to bail out the condensation and they were stars, along with timpanist Huon Bourne Blue.

Concertmaster Elisabeth Greenhalgh led the 80-odd musicians crowded on to the Conservatorium’s stage with great energy and aplomb.

Occasionally entries and intonation from the brass section were a little ragged, but it was a remarkable feat for Briger and his young troops to pull off such a staggeringly ambitious project.

DETAILS

● CONCERTS: Sydney Symphony Orchestra — Mahler 6; Sydney Youth Orchestra — Bruckner 8

● WHERE: Sydney Opera House Concert Hall; Verbrugghen Hall

● WHEN: Friday, August 10; Saturday, August 11