Photo, BBC/Chris Christodoulou
REVIEWED FROM LIVE RELAY ON BBC RADIO 3
Friday, September 11, 2026
Royal Albert Hall, London
The Mahler Academy Orchestra (a mix of young and senior professionals) was here aiming to recreate “the original sound and style of Mahler’s Ninth Symphony.” Quite a claim. What counts as the reference? Premiered posthumously on June 26, 1912 (Mahler had died the previous year), by the Vienna Philharmonic and Bruno Walter, should we look to this orchestra and conductor’s account on January 16, 1938, also in the Musikverein – the work’s first recording – as being the model? Or Walter’s (different) 1961 studio recording? Or Klemperer – like Walter an assistant to Mahler – in 1967 (stoical in old age), also studio? All below.
Better to take this Proms performance on its own terms, its characteristics already documented on Alpha Classics. Not the best of starts, one of the players had to leave the stage, but when the music did start the horns were out of tune, and the violins’ gut strings slid like sighs or even miaows; interpretatively, about six minutes in there was a sudden increase in speed that was questionable. The lighter timbre of the instruments (some of them used here as commissioned by Mahler) might be thought pallid, Philipp von Steinaecker’s sudden extremes of tempo during the (here) twenty-eight-minute first movement becoming predictable vying between funereal and tempestuous with playing that suggested these instruments as accident-prone and/or intransigent, yet there was a natural clarity and balance, if with vagaries of pace and rustic sonorities carrying into the dances and interruptions of the second movement.
The ‘Rondo-Burleske’ went at quite a lick with playing that went up a notch, with percussion distinctive and convincing, the middle section a moment of transporting reflection, the coda driven to the edge and over it. For the Adagio final movement the tempo appeared very broad (contradicted by being a somewhat average twenty-four minutes), its character sorrowful, the expression intimate, with less vibrato than might be expected (a contentious subject in itself), the result somewhat scrawny if more than usual on the cusp of new territory, although woodwinds were variable in timbre and execution and a lack of heft informed the climax, the subsequent gradual diminution suggesting Mahler was calling from beyond the grave even before he got there, although at the time his ambition was to compose a further Symphony, the Tenth, albeit left unfinished for others to complete. The silence in the wake of the Ninth was broken by something someone shouted.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0030tbz
Why does someone have to shout out at the end before the last notes die away. Sadly that ruined what the symphony had been building up to. I felt very sorry for the conductor and orchestra who really looked quite deflated at that.
It’s that “look at me, look at me” attitude that some prommers can be prone to. A philistine!
I agree. The conductor was clearly still bringing his arms down. It was clear that a long pause of absolute silence would have allowed the hall to recapture its collective breath after the intense pianissimo at the end of the performance. To have someone shout “bravi” before that moment was crass.
Some chap shouted out ‘ Bravi” very loudly from the prommer section whilst the sound was still reverberating. I wish a nearby person had kicked him where it hurts. That ‘ look at me’ narcissistic act disrepected the 6000 people in the hall, the musicians and the radio audience. I was in the hall and I was not the only one who would have punched the guy on the way out if we knew who it was.
If by “promming section” you mean the Arena, the area in the centre of the Hall where people stand, not guilty, m’lud. I was in the Arena, toward the back, and the voice came from behind me and slightly higher up, so from the Grand Tier or the Second Tier. This kind of hooliganism is for some reason more common from the seats than from the standing listeners.
I tend to scepticism about period instruments, but I thought the performance was characterised by a remarkable clarity of the different sections, which emerged much more distinctly from each other than usual. I attended nearly forty concerts this season, and this was one of the standouts as far as I was concerned.
I quite agree, silence and reflection please. The review is harsh but true. They di improve and delivered a fine last movement.
The sublimity of Mahler’s 9th was totally ruined by the moron who insisted on shouting out at the end of the piece. “Look everybody, I know Mahler’s 9th!” Claudio Abbado would have been appalled! Another sublime piece of music was ruined at the Proms this year by people who insist on clapping at every opportunity – Strauss’ 4 Last Songs. So annoying!
Well I was there. I was unfamiliar with the piece and so wasn’t aware of the requirement to sit in silence at the end. A little more understanding please rather than label others as philistines! It’s attitudes like yours that put people off attending classic music concerts!
Watch the conductor, if his/her hands are still up the piece has not finished. That silence is as important as the notes.
I was there too. I wasn’t aware of the “requirement” but it was completely obvious that a moment was needed. One or two seconds, and waiting for the conductor to indicate the end was all that was needed.
How strange to write “requirement”. Surely, even with average intelligence, you would know, given the way this work ends, that silence is the ONLY possible response, until the conductor indicates otherwise.
Just sit quietly and listen, that’s all you have to do, then you will be very welcome. Conversely it’s the people who don’t give a damn for the music or fellow audience members who can spoil it for others, those who have spent many years going to concerts who know not to clap between movements or too soon after a quiet ending, this Mahler spells out that a silent response is obligatory; yes, watch the conductor. Simple really, it’s about intelligence and respect rather than selfishness and ignorance.
I wonder if the person who shouted ‘Bravi’ and started clapping after the musicians had finished playing was signalling their disapproval of Steinaecker’s interpretation — and it must be said, some of his tempi were absurd. Still rather inconsiderate and performative, but the traditional silence after the ninth is ultimately an indulgence of the conductor’s ego rather than paying heed to what Mahler notated in the score.
The ‘bravi’ call was indeed annoying. After a performance with miraculously little coughing, it was a sad end.
Was I the only person to find the over enthusiastic movements of the orchestra leader very distracting.
I have never seen a leader behave so. From my seat it was a total negative distraction. I think the conductor indulges the leader’s grotesque physical carry on as part of the idea this orchestra is doing something new and unusual.
These antics certainly mean that I will not be booking for this orchestra again.
Yes I did notice that. Distracting certainly. I noticed he had a different seat to the other violinists. Like a piano bench and was a bit elevated so he could perch on the edge. Quite a restless leader.
The idiot shouted “Bravi.”Way too soon and it ruined the incredibly moving ending to this piece.
Whether they really could not contain themselves for a few more seconds, or they really were just doing it to show off and get heard on the radio I don’t know. But it was totally inappropriate. Thank goodness there was no applause between the movements. I very much enjoyed this performance. I thought it was quite extraordinary.
On the subject of quiet endings to symphonies, Last Friday’s Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra‘s Vaughan Williams ninth Symphony and also his Fantasia on a theme of Thomas Talis, did have almost overdone and painful held silences, with Andrew Manze keeping his hands still and thus encouraging a continued silence. This was the complete opposite of last night.
Exactly. If Manze can do it in the vast expanse of the RAH, why couldn’t the conductor of last night’s Mahler 9?
The Mahler 9 conductor did keep still, trying to prolong the moment, but the idiot who called out ignored this. The conductor really can’t do much if someone chooses to behave this way.
Not only was the shouting out at the end highly annoying I found the prominent guitar like picking of the strings at the beginning most disconcerting. Maybe that was due to the Radio 3 mike positioning but listening to it again now I find I really don’t like the way the whole thing sounded at all.
Mark, so glad you weren’t influenced by Tom Service not having a word of criticism, sadly typical of R3 presenters’ unwanted opinions that are rendered meaningless anyway due to everything being wonderful.
At the Amsterdam Concertgebouw last night their was prolonged silence at the end of Mahler’s Ninth. Philipp von Steinaecker kept his arms raised for a considerable time and the audience got the message. Only about ten mobile phones were dropped during the performance in spite of the usual message before the concert to put mobile phones away. The Ninth was performed after the interval. The concert started with Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder sung by mezzosoprano Fleur Barron. I found the performance of the outer movements of the symphony the most convincing. The Ländler and the Rondo Burleske were over the top. The musicians sounded like hysterical children who had to be disciplined. Maybe that was the effect Mahler had in mind. The end of the symphony was frightening: complete disintegration and a fall into the abyss.
Call me precious [ I don’t care], but to paraphrase a comment above, it’s attitudes like this that after years of concert going, now put me off attending concerts.
I don’t often attend concerts where there is the possibility of some narcissistic dickhead ruining the luftpause at the end. For me it started with that Tennstedt 1983 Mahler 6 -[oddly, or perhaps not, the voice sounded much the same as the other evening], but other concerts, notably ruined for me include a fine Sea Drift with Elder in Manchester.