photo: Kansas City Symphony
Rarely have I seen the stage of Helzberg Hall as crowded as Friday night Nov. 21 at the Kauffman Center when the Kansas City Symphony staged a masterful performance of the monumental Symphony No. 7 by Gustav Mahler. Under the baton of Music Director Matthias Pintscher, the ensemble not only deftly managed the emotionally charged musical landscape but also made a clear and convincing case why the work should be played more often.
It is indeed one of the least-played Mahler symphonies, perhaps due to its frequent tempo fluctuations in the opening movement, key changes and unusual instrumentation. In this work, for example, he called for a tenorhorn in the first movement, and the guitar and mandolin in the fourth movement.
Mahler’s symphonies also evoke an image of enormity. Most are very long (this one clocked in at 79 minutes with pauses between movements and was the only work on the program). They call for a very large orchestra, with extensive wind and brass sections and additional string players.
The opening movement begins slowly and ominously, and with a tenorhorn solo, but the music quickly changed tempo. In fact, this movement is the longest movement in the symphony and the one with the greatest number of musical changes in tempo and mood, with modifications in every few pages of the orchestral score.
Conductor Matthew Pintscher, now in his second season as music director, maintained a sure hand at controlling all the changes. The performers successfully delivered an ever-fluctuating musical kaleidoscope of orchestral colors and articulations: crisp versus smooth; strong versus gentle; accented versus unaccented. Pintscher displayed a clear and expressive beat throughout the evening, shaping musical phrases beautifully.
One of Mahler’s signature style elements is the contrast of solo string players with the orchestra, and all the first-chair players excelled. But three deserve special mention for their rich tone and fiery playing: violinist and concertmaster Jun Iwasaki, violist MingYu Hsu and cellist Mark Gibbs.
Both the second and fourth movements of the composition were entitled “Nachtmusik” by the composer. While the English translation is “night music,” it might also suggest “serenade.” The second movement is often described as a march, but Pintscher infused the music with a clear sense of dance. It opens with two French horns, one beginning and the other using a mute and echoing the first. Then the dancelike melody entered and traveled from one section of instruments to another. Pintscher and the players were particularly successful in maintaining the dancelike appeal throughout the movement, and the lower strings displayed extraordinary warmth.
The third movement, a scherzo, is marked “schattenhaft”, which can be translated as either “shadowy” or “ghostly.” Either works well to describe the music, with mysterious rapid passages in the muted strings and sighing motives. The upper strings were not always together in their execution of the quick runs or intonation, but this was a minor flaw in a long, complicated work. The trio was a little slower and sometimes resembled a rustic folk dance, followed by a recurrence of the main rapid scherzo melody.
The fourth movement is another “nachtmusik” section, and the use of the guitar and mandolin may have been intended to invoke the image of a vocal serenade accompanied by a solo string instrument. The challenge of having the guitar or mandolin heard while the orchestra is playing is considerable. Nevertheless, Pintscher and the instrumentalists were highly successful in this endeavor—the guitar and especially the mandolin were indeed audible. In fact, the orchestra was remarkable in the soft sounds it produced near the end of the movement.
The fifth movement finale provided an immediate contrast with an exciting thunderous opening featuring timpani, brass and winds. Strings featured some very rapid and virtuosic passages convincingly and accurately delivered. This was in fact the most active and rewarding movement for the percussion section, and it certainly did its part in bringing the work to a thrilling and triumphant conclusion.
The orchestra and conductor Matthias Pintscher delivered a robust and thoroughly satisfying performance with very minor flaws. It was an evening filled with musical contrast, opulent melodies and a jubilant finale.
The Kansas City Symphony will present two more performances of Mahler’s Symphony No. 7: Sat., Nov. 22 at 8 pm and Sunday, Nov. 23 at 2 pm at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. For more information, visit www.kcsymphony.org.
Reviewed Fri., Nov. 21, 2025
