JOLIETTE, Quebec — Good to see a healthy crowd on Aug. 3 for the Mahler Seventh, arguably the most demanding of his symphonies. Even if it needs to be clarified straightaway that most of the multitudes attending the penultimate concert of the 2024 Festival de Lanaudière season were locals offered free admission as citizens of Joliette, a prosperous town in a rural setting about an hour’s drive from Montreal.
The point is that more than 3,300 worthies on a muggy evening gave their undivided attention to a five-movement score that even some confirmed Mahlerians regard as not a minute too short. Credit the prevailing atmosphere of concentration in the Amphithéâtre Fernand-Lindsay to the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, an ensemble with an indestructible pride in playing well, and Rafael Payare, a conductor who gets the most from his charges by giving a lot himself.
This 44-year-old Venezuelan in recent seasons has been making Mahler his business. He started his tenure as OSM music director in 2022 with four performances of the Symphony No. 2 (Resurrection), one of which became an impressive medici.tv webcast. A recording of the Fifth on the Pentatone label earned Choice of the Month honors from both Gramophone and BBC Music Magazine in the spring of 2023.
The 2022-23 subscription season concluded with Mahler’s Third Symphony, about which the present writer said nice things. Last March, Pentatone released a coupling of Strauss’ Ein heldenleben and Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder with soprano Sonya Yoncheva. In January, there were two performances of the Mahler Seventh (which I contrived to miss). In October 2024, Payare oversees three Resurrections with the San Diego Symphony (where he has been music director since 2019) in renovated Copley Symphony Hall. Back in Montreal, in May 2025, we get Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde (with mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung and tenor Nikolai Schukoff). The special interest is obvious.
As was the aptitude on this occasion. Long-limbed and demonstrative, Payare conveyed the sweep of the music without neglecting the particulars. If the first movement sounded shrill at climaxes, the feeling of al fresco magic arrived soon enough in the first Nachtmusik (along with a mercifully cooling breeze). The grotesque elements of the Scherzo emerged naturally at a crisp and steady tempo.
Like all Mahler symphonies, the Seventh is built substantially of solos. The OSM winds acquitted themselves admirably both as individuals and as teammates. Catherine Turner, named principal horn in 2022, was a wonder of songful security. It says something about the quality of listening at Lanaudière that she got a burst of applause on taking her post-performance bow.
Another standout was principal trumpet Paul Merkelo — as long as the judgment is not taken to imply undue prominence. Gold as well as silver is now within the tonal ambit of this OSM veteran. The famous solos for tenor horn were assigned (as they often are) to a euphonium, an instrument that arguably produces a mellower sound than what Mahler had in mind. No worries. The Seventh accommodates many options. Even the crying of a baby in the second movement seemed (like the cowbells) a valid part of the panoply of life the composer wished to portray.
Strings, of course, must be softly lyrical at points in the middle movements, and so they were. Concertmaster Andrew Wan made amiable solo contributions. Mahler requires the timpanist to play “mit Bravour” at the start of the finale. Andrei Malashenko certainly complied.
Can there be too much exuberance in the concluding movement? Payare does not think so. Yet the conductor was aware of the hidden corners of doubt illuminated by all that C major sunshine. This was a detailed as well as energetic performance. We could not have asked for more.
We got more, however. Someone had the clever idea of upping the stage lighting as the symphony reached its fortissimo conclusion. It was a fun and festive touch. Not that the amphitheater acoustics need any help!
This Seventh was on the fast side at 73 minutes (including some lengthy between-movement breathers). There are no plans for a recording: Pentatone is already pursuing a Mahler cycle with the Czech Philharmonic under Semyon Bychkov. And it cannot be said that the catalog lacks Mahler options. At any rate, the Mezzo television network will broadcast the OSM/Payare Seventh from last January on Sept. 14 at 10:50 p.m. ET.
A final comment or two about the audience. Despite all the talk we encounter about how classical music is doomed in an era of short attention spans, here we had a quiet crowd of non-insiders listening to (and cheering) one of the longer and more elaborate symphonies in the standard repertoire.
Nor was there any clapping between movements. In words of welcome spoken from the stage, Lanaudière artistic director Renaud Loranger (who is also head of A & R for Pentatone) politely asked for applause to be held until the end of the performance. Problem solved.
