THE HERALD
FEBRUARY 14, 2001

Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow
By Michael Tumelty

Let's put two decades of doing this business, professionally, on the line here. What Kurt Masur and the Israel Philharmonic produced last night was one of the finest performances of a Mahler symphony that I have ever heard, and, I believe, one of the greatest interpretations in our time of the composer's First Symphony.

It wasn't just the Israel Phil. Stupendous through they are, they are neither the Vienna nor Berlin Philharmonics in terms of polish. It was Masur, who made them play in a fashion that was a benchmark of his own style.

Masur always plays to the big shape of a piece, however lengthy; he never lingers indulgently over a tempting detail. With him, there is always a goal, always an objective, and always a precise and confident sense of direction towards them (however apparently disjointed his actual conducting style).

In a word, as far as Mahler is concerned, he is the absolute antithesis of Leonard Bernstein, who wouldn't let a sexy detail go by without massaging it, or, more likely, wringing its lovely neck.

Masur's approach -- clear-headed, clear-textured, unaffected, pacey, taut in its rhythm, and indescribably dramatic in its cumulative effect -- was matched by the lean, gleaming, and wonderfully lucid playing of the Israelis.

The progression of the symphony, thus, was inexorable (though Masur did permit himself a moment of wondrous schmaltz in the third movement's Trio), and its impact was gripping -- even if the horns didn't stand up for their final, great peroration.

The effect on the large (though not capacity) audience was explosively cathartic. And no wonder: the symphony was like a thriller that couldn't be put down, with a shattering denouement. Unforgettable.