A leave-taking full of love. This was how Simon Rattle once described the last movement of Mahler’s Symphony No 9 (1909-10), not the composer’s final work but, given tragedies in his life and his failing health, written in the shadow of death. Rattle was still with the Berlin Philharmonic when he made that remark. He had not yet arrived at the London Symphony Orchestra as music director, in 2017, nor thought about his departure from it, which finally came – in one sense – on Sunday at the Royal Albert Hall. He chose the symphony for his official farewell to an ensemble he has held in close affection, and whose innate qualities have flowered under his assiduous and energetic nurture. (Luckily his successor, Antonio Pappano, shares these characteristics in his own distinct way.)
That said, Sunday’s unforgettable Prom 56, which had opened with Poulenc’s Figure humaine – a chance for the BBC Singers to show their mettle – radiated affirmation, not regret. It helped that this was not absolutely the end. Orchestra and conductor were off the next day to Berlin to perform the Ninth again; and as emeritus conductor, Rattle has LSO dates next season, notably Janáček’s Jenůfa in January. If there was a tinge of regret, it was not of a musical kind; more a collective remorse that the UK had proved such a sunless, weed-choked habitat for its most free-thinking musical asset. Rattle has fought our music battles for nearly half a century, a tireless and eloquent figurehead. Now at last, and while he so vigorously can, he has released himself. Next season, he starts as chief conductor of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Munich. How we envy that city, that orchestra.
His players on Sunday could not have rewarded him better: buoyant and rhapsodic in the outer movements, caustic, irascible and trenchant in the central Ländler and Rondo-Burleske. The symphony’s oblique opening bars offer their own challenges: the odd, low plod of the harp and the muted solo horn must at once balance enigma with confidence. Together with quivering violas, they trigger the unravelling of this epic. Conducting without a score, as he mostly does, Rattle girded and encouraged, but gave the soloists space to breathe: Timothy Jones (horn), James Fountain (trumpet), Chris Richards (clarinet), Gareth Davies (flute) and others – apologies for not naming all 98 players – were each at their brilliant best.
Ever detailed in his markings, Mahler cautions the conductor not to hurry, to hold back, to be only “somewhat” slower or faster. Rattle, for so long an advocate of the work, absorbed these nuances into his reading, nowhere more affectingly than in the Adagio finale. This lament opens like a hymn, moves through variations and ends as if all aural strength, tone, muscle, pulse has drained away. Second violins, then violas, have the final breath, delivered here with hushed assertion, a last gasp of adrenaline, a faint imprint on a shroud. Then nothing. No one moved. No show-off shouted bravo. Six thousand people, from arena to gallery, were stock still, honouring the performance, overwhelmed by it. Then came the cheers.
If anyone needs reminding, Rattle’s great achievement at the start of his career was his association with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, to spectacular effect. In agreeable synchronicity, two of his successors in that job have been in Proms evidence: frequently, Sakari Oramo, whose BBC Symphony Orchestra acts as a backbone to the season; and as starry guest, Andris Nelsons, who was on the podium the previous two nights with his Boston Symphony Orchestra. Their second prom, on Saturday, opened with the European premiere of Four Black American Dances by Carlos Simon (b.1986), a vivid, big band-style set that embraced enslaved Africans, moving in a circle while stomping and shuffling, to waltz, tap and holy dance that mimicked a congregation singing in tongues.
Stravinsky’s Petrushka, compassionate as well as meticulous, and Ravel’s La Valse, fabulously spectral and illusory, gave the Bostonians ample opportunity to shine, especially the brass, outsized in volume and panache. Jean-Yves Thibaudet, as the quicksilver soloist in Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F major (1925), was deft, virtuosic and idiomatically jazzy. Taking my cue from an interview in which the fashion-mad French pianist spoke of his desire “not to look like a stupid penguin”, I must report that he wore a short, rose-gold brocade frock coat with leg o’mutton sleeves and cowboy tendencies. I admire his style. You would never mistake him for a penguin, even in the dark.
Star ratings (out of five)
Prom 56: LSO/Rattle ★★★★★
Prom 55: Boston Symphony Orchestra/Nelsons ★★★★
Prom 56 is on BBC iPlayer. All Proms are on BBC Sounds. The Proms continue until 9 September
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