Gustav Mahler's Seventh has been described as the Cinderella of the composer's symphonies.
There is no easy narrative path through its 80 minutes, nor a lush Adagio crying out to be seconded for a big-screen soundtrack.
Its volatile textures and moods, along with some daring harmonic touches, found admirers inlater modernist composers such as Schoenberg and Pierre Boulez, but caused it to be shamefully shorn of 11 minutes for its American premiere in 1921.
Edo de Waart and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra gave us every note of it on the night, doing eloquent justice to one of the composer's most compelling scores.
Its two outer movements were mighty edifices. Within seconds, an exultant tenor horn unfurled Mahler's vision of roaring nature, while the finale, with its lashings of past Wagnerian splendours, brought the evening to a spectacular close.
While the symphony's first taste of "night music" moved from exquisite alpine echoes to an ominous, dark-toned march, the second showed Mahler's favourite ploy of using mighty orchestral forces to make chamber music, beautifully tinctured by harp, guitar and mandolin.
The central scherzo, the shortest of the five movements, took the breath away as de Waart created the shadowy world stipulated, in bitterly sardonic triple time.
Edo de Waart launched his NZSO tenure two years ago with a memorable Third Symphony. This performance makes one impatient for his Mahler Second next November.
Review What: New Zealand Symphony Orchestra Where: Auckland Town Hall When: Saturday Reviewer: William Dart
