RSNO/Denève

Mahler's Sixth might be the closest the composer came to adhering to symphonic convention, but in the right hands, the imposing architecture, particularly of the outer movements, combines latent menace with contrasting islands of tranquillity for an effect that is disquieting and undeniably powerful. There was little to threaten menace in this performance from Stéphane Denève and the RSNO. From the first statement of the obsessive, repetitive theme, it was clear this was not going to be a performance driven onwards with rapier precision and ferocious energy. There was momentum, albeit of a gentler, more rounded kind in Denève's approach to the opening, but it was in the subsequent fantastic array of colours and orchestral textures that the conductor revelled. The otherworldly effect of the off-stage cowbells, the pastoral interludes expressed in the woodwind chorales – these were all lovingly shaped and nurtured. A sense of the overall architecture of the movement was more difficult to discern, as was Denève's overall vision of the structure of the movement. The third movement andante rather than the scherzo that preceded it emerged as the emotional core. Despite a faltering start, the sustained progress to the climax of the andante, mournful yet passionate, showed Denève at his most perceptive, and the playing of his orchestra at its most sensitive. The conflict and resolution of the monumental finale that followed, for all Denève's interest in the contrast, lacked bite, and there were moments towards the close where the balance between brass and strings became perilously strained.