By Paul Hertelendy 
        artssf.com, the independent observer of San Francisco Bay Area music and dance 
                                                                 Week of March 1-8, 2011
                                                                  Vol. 13, No. 73
            BERKELEY---The last time we encountered the vaunted Vienna Philharmonic in the Bay Area, it was 1987, with Leonard Bernstein---an American icon that the players held in high affection---conducting them with his characteristic fluidity and energy, just three years before his death.
            Now the orchestra was back with 110 players, led by the frequent Russian guest Semyon Bychkov, 58, based in Europe. He is touring the group across three continents this season. These musicians are the consummate professionals, with that trademarked smoothness of the woodwinds and horns, and the sheer volume to knock you out of your seat at Zellerbach Hall (where no other ensembles come close in loudness). The bigger-than-life performance ends up as aesthetic as it is visceral, as happened Feb. 27 with  the seamless playing of Mahler’s Symphony No. 6, all 91 minutes of it without intermission.
            However superior in musical credentials and achievement, the Viennese make news sociologically. They appear to have edged ahead of the Berlin Philharmonic in the number of  female musicians, with a five-percent-female complement playing the Mahler (vs. only about two percent for the Berliners on recent tours, both tallies improved from the 1960s when only the harpist was  female). By comparison, the thoroughly liberated San Francisco Symphony has about one-third women, consistent with many US orchestras.
            The Viennese differ in other ways from our US orchestras: They filed in quietly and orderly, without all  the pre-concert tootling and tuning-up on  stage. And since 1933, they have been led only by guest conductors like Bychkov, not music directors; the players themselves are the boss, making the artistic decisions.
            The chubby Bychkov does not rank among the glamorous poster-boys of the podium, but he gets results with his unusual stick technique, where the beat comes at the top of the swing, not the bottom. In addition to evoking the fine-honed Vienna sound from the players, he also enjoys a good rapport. And his curvilinear sweep of the baton traces the romanticism in this mysterious, elusive opus.
            Here, Mahler is building a colossal castle of  effusive depression through the first two movements running an intense 40 minutes. It is briefly mitigated by the subsequent Andante with its bucolic scene, but one that becomes ever more troubled, more passionate, and more reminiscent of the composer’s great “Songs on the Death of Children.”
            The long (half-hour) finale is ultimately the focus, with its relentless, rhythmic and restless pace evolving from the opening horn and descending celli. Instruments appear to shriek with pain, two timpanists beat a tattoo and, in the most unusual feature, two death/fate blows are struck on wood with a giant mallet.
            The symphony’s designation “Tragic” is if anything an understatement. This is a bigger-than-life experience---but it is not for the faint-hearted nor for the entertainment-driven.
            Curiously enough, Mahler wrote this on Lake Worth, Austria while on a summer holiday in one of the happiest periods of his life. You figure!
            MAHLER NOTES---Playing the Sixth currently made eminent sense, as it comes on the centennial of the Viennese composer’s death at age 51….In the sold-out house was S.F. Symphony Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas, as well as one music critic coming all the way from Los Angeles…This was the 3^rd of three programs here by the Philharmonic, and it was not without oneupsmanship. “This is my third one this weekend,” one listener remarked smugly….Mahler debated whether the Scherzo suggesting some galactic chaos should come second in sequence or, as is traditional for symphonies,  third. He wisely  put it second in the published form, thus allowing some respite via the Andante that follows.
            Vienna Philharmonic, Semyon Bychkov conducting, at Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley Feb. 25-27, presented by Cal Performances. For info: (510) 642-9988, or go online. 
        ©Paul Hertelendy 2011
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           Paul Hertelendy has been covering the dance and modern-music scene in the San Francisco Bay Area with relish -- and a certain amount of salsa -- for years.
    These critiques appearing weekly (or sometimes semi-weekly, but never weakly) will focus on dance and new musical creativity in performance, with forays into books (by authors of the region), theater and recordings by local artists as well.
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