This was the first time Levine had ever conducted the two middle movements in the order Mahler himself settled on: Andante, Scherzo. A controversy exists because in Mahler’s first published score, the calm Andante comes after the nasty Scherzo — and that’s what you hear on most recordings. On Saturday, Levine did it that way. Both versions have their fervent advocates, though to me the transition from the relentless energy of the opening to the ecstatic stasis of the Andante is one of Mahler’s most moving passages, and this more equally weighted order is closer to the classical model of Haydn and Mozart. The second performance was more polished, maybe even louder, though not quite as convincing. For the last concert, on Tuesday, Levine was to choose the order he preferred. Stay tuned.
Related:
Phenomenal!, Noble melody, Beloved of God, More 
- Phenomenal!
Living for a century is still a milestone; for a great and still-productive artist to do so is virtually unheard of.
- Noble melody
For the first time since James Levine became music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, this acclaimed Verdi specialist conducted the BSO in a Verdi opera.
- Beloved of God
One of my most profound musical experiences took place when I was still a graduate student.
- Contertizing
Boston Lyric Opera follows up Dvorák’s moonstruck Rusalka, with Christopher Schaldebrand in the title role of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, the BSO and much more.
- Baroque and beyond
Ten-best lists usually come at the end of the season, but this year the Phoenix has asked its critics to provide a calendar of 10 events that, at least on paper, might wind up on an end-of-season Top 10. Boston, in case you didn't know it, is a great city for classical music, so it's not easy to keep the list short. But here goes.
- Leon Kirchner, 1919–2009
Craggy, tender, passionate, witty, rough-edged, lyrical, uncompromising, Leon Kirchner's music, so like the man himself, made an indelible impression. Even in his recent appearance at a 90th-birthday tribute concert at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the old fire and wit, the frankness and the refusal to sentimentalize, were there.
- The roar of the crowd
I wasn’t there, but the opening-night dissatisfaction with the Met’s new Tosca was widely reported.
- In the swim
My head’s swimming.
- Almost
The Boston Lyric Opera comes maddeningly close to having a good Carmen . (The production continues at the Shubert Theatre through November 17.) Keith Lockhart leads a superb orchestra and chorus and a cast of plausible singers/actors in a compelling if not spine-tingling performance.
- Creationists
Simon Rattle and the BPO, Fabio Luisi and the BSO, John Harbison and Emmanuel Music
- Open spaces
In my review of the memorable Brahms performances Sir Simon Rattle led with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra for the Celebrity Series of Boston last month, I should have mentioned that one decision responsible for the beauty and spaciousness of the orchestral sound was the placement of the first and second violin sections on opposite sides of the stage.
- Less
Topics:
Classical
, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, James Levine, Andre Previn, More
, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, James Levine, Andre Previn, Artur Schnabel, Bruce Hall, Stravinsky, Gillian Keith, James Levine, John Ferrillo, Jordan Hall, Less
