IN VISCERAL ACKNOWLEDGMENT

“David Robertson, back at Disney Hall [with the LA Phil] for the first time in five years, led Mahler’s most enigmatic, least-played symphony as if in visceral acknowledgment of war and its implications… Robertson did not deny Mahler his glorious lyricism, but he defied his nostalgia. That meant marches that marched with relentless energy. It meant startling percussive accents. It meant whipping up a frenzy. The wind playing was spectacular. The brass filled every sonic inch of Disney. There was no sleeping in this night music, no time to stop and smell the roses… When everything is on the line, you can’t always look back. That’s the only way to preserve nostalgia for the future.”