Vasily Petrenko included only the first movement of the unfinished 10th Symphony in the Mahler cycle he gave with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic in their 2010/11 season. Since then he has taken on the complete work, conducting Deryck Cooke’s peerless performing version with both the RLPO and the National Youth Orchestra, and he brought it to his latest appearance with the Philharmonia, too.
Petrenko dedicated his performance of the 10th to his mother, who died recently, and perhaps the weight of that loss was responsible for his rather staid approach. The opening Adagio, where the dark abysses of the music were never suggested, had the impact of its fiercely dissonant climactic chord blunted, and the symphony’s intensely personal dimension – it was composed at a time when Mahler had to confront the real possibility of losing his wife, Alma, to the architect Walter Gropius – was generally neutralised. The pair of scherzos that enclose the tiny central Purgatorio movement (which sounded commonplace here) were plausible enough. But despite the real beauty of some sections of the finale – the forlorn yet aspiring flute solo was beautifully judged – it was only towards the end that Petrenko’s performances achieved the coherence they needed. Even then, it all seemed a little too easy, and the radiance of the closing paragraphs was hardly earned.
Before Mahler’s last symphony came Mozart’s last piano concerto, the B flat K595, with Till Fellner as soloist. It was lacking in frills, and at times perhaps too unadorned – Fellner’s piano sound was not particularly ingratiating – and the Philharmonia’s contribution was less expressive than some of Petrenko’s gestures seemed to expect.
