Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Symphony no. 7

Rarely does a concert entirely devoted to a big Mahler Symphony later acquire a second half, let alone one containing just twenty minutes of a cappella singing. 

For its second concert at the Edinburgh International Festival, the Czech Phil offers colourful, rousing playing in Gustav Mahler's Seventh Symphony. 

A reduced RSNO with Thomas Søndergård shows a brave arrangement of the Seventh Symphony in a filmed performance.

Oramo gave a generally convincing account of Mahler's seventh, if at times one with a sense of taming a beast.

In Kaija Saariaho's clarinet concerto D'om le vrai sens, with Kari Kriikku as soloist, and Mahler's Symphony no. 7, masterfully conducted by Ilan Volkov, the RTÉ NSO enchant the audience in Dublin.

On a rare visit to London, the Bavarian State Orchestra and its Generalmusikdirektor Kirill Petrenko show why Mahler’s Seventh Symphony signposts much of the anguish of the 20th century.

Mariss Jansons makes the case for the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra visiting Carnegie Hall more often. 

John Storgårds conducts Simon Holt’s percussion concerto and Mahler 7 with the BBC Phiharmonic

An exhilarating ride through Mahler's Seventh at the Barbican. 

Such a protean symphony needs a deft hand on the tiller and, as in his CBSO recording, Simon Rattle was just the man to steer it into harbour.

Conductor Bernhard Haitink recently tackled the great “kaleidoscope” of Mahler’s Seventh symphony to the delight of a Zurich audience.

Venerated Dutch maestro leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in one of Mahler's less familiar symphonies

Music Director Jahja Ling waited until more than a decade of his tenure with San Diego Symphony had passed before programming Mahler’s Symphony no. 7, the first in the orchestra's 103-year history.

A fine performance of Mahler's Symphony no. 7 from London Symphony Orchestra and Daniele Gatti, which finds joy in confusion, but can’t quite transcend the chaos. 

The last time I saw Gustavo Dudamel conduct at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall was in August 2005, when he stood in for an indisposed Neeme Järvi, at the age of 24. It’s astonishing quite how much Dudamel’s star has skyrocketed since then: he’s the closest thing the classical music industry has now to a global superstar conductor, and there was a packed hall in Birmingham delighted to welcome him back.

Alan Gilbert, Music Director of the New York Philharmonic, was an unexpected guest this past weekend at Severance Hall. Pierre Boulez had been announced as the guest conductor, but a few weeks ago he was forced to cancel his appearance for medical reasons.

The Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester are known as one of the best youth orchestras in the world, if not the best. As such, they do not shy away from the more difficult repertoire and tonight’s performance of Berg’s Violin Concerto and Mahler’s Symphony no. 7 reaffirmed their reputation.

Oliver Knussen’s music is all about exquisiteness and elegance – not words to describe Mahler’s at the best of times, but maybe his Seventh Symphony least of all, with its odd, lumbering structure, coarse trills and abrupt changes of pace.

We were welcomed to one of the “more improbable lunchtime concerts ever” by James Waters, director of classical music at Horsecross: over 100 musicians from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (rebranded from RSAMD) playing Mahler’s colossal Symphony no. 7 straight through with no interval.

La phalange tchèque, qui avait créé l'œuvre en 1908 avec le compositeur à la baguette, propose une interprétation mitigée de cette partition gigantesque.

Semyon Bychkov ofreció una impactante Sinfonía núm. 7 de Mahler al frente de la Czech Philharmonic en una interpretación reveladora de las dificultades de la obra.

Die Aufführung des SWR Symphonieorchester unter der Leitung von François-Xavier Roth hinterließ einen zwiespältigen Eindruck: bei aller Orchestervirtuosität fehlte es doch an Emotion. 

Le cycle Mahler continue au Nouveau Siècle avec Alexandre Bloch et l’Orchestre National de Lille, dans une interprétation décapante de l’étrange Symphonie n° 7.

Unterstützt von der transparenten Akustik wird Mahlers Siebte Symphonie in der Elbphilharmonie zu einem ganz außergewöhnlichen Ereignis.

Der lettische Chefdirigent führt das BRSO mit ungewohnter Leichtigkeit durch Gustav Mahlers selten gespielte Symphonie.

Das Orchester sorgt in Berlin mit Mahlers Siebenter Symphonie für einen denkwürdigen Abend.

Das Rotterdams Philharomisch Orkest spielte unter Valerie Gergiev bravourös Gustav Mahlers Siebente Symphonie und Timbres von Henri Dutilleux.

Für mich war es eine ausgezeichnete Orchesterleistung, eine sehr überzeugende Interpretation, die mich fragen lässt, was denn an dieser Symphonie wohl schwer zu verstehen sei!

L'Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France accueillait le chef russe Vasily Petrenko et la violoniste Baiba Skride pour un superbe voyage dans les ténèbres de Szymanowski et de Mahler.