It’s been two and a half years since Benjamin Zander (who as a child studied cello under Britten) completed his season-long Mahler survey with the Boston Philharmonic. Last week he returned to Mahler refreshed and energized with the Fifth Symphony, the Mahler work I’ve heard him conduct most. This was a dynamic performance, reveling in Mahler’s radical contrasts: loud outbursts versus near silence; the outer social whirl versus inner turbulence; dire thoughts of mortality versus expressions of tender affection; shrieks of grief versus comically joyful celebration. Zander kept up a compelling momentum, full of surprises, and always emphasizing movement — a funeral march turning into a funereal tango, a scintillating Viennese waltz. The playing was stupendous, beginning with Eric Berlin’s grim trumpet fanfare and including Kevin Owen’s mournful horn, Bruce Creditor’s warm clarinet, and Martha Moor’s uncanny harp in the famous Adagietto.
The concert began with an understated, songful Schumann Cello Concerto, with Alexander Baillie playing an especially affecting slow movement. He followed with two encores, buoyant movements from a Bach solo cello suite.
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