Musikfest 3: A Certain Restraint

Zubin Mehta is no stranger to Berlin – he is both a frequent guest of the Berlin Philharmonic and an honorary conductor of the Staatskapelle – but it has been a number of years since he last visited with the Israel Philharmonic, the orchestra with whom he has long served as music director. It was therefore a pleasure to see them together on the stage of the Philharmonie as part of this year’s Musikfest, in a programme that included an exquisite performance of Schönberg’s first Chamber Symphony, followed by a quietly immaculate version of Mahler’s final completed symphony, the Ninth. 

The evening’s two works, composed within three years of one another, are both characterised by a certain restraint. In Pelleas und Melisande (to say nothing of the still-in-progress Gurre-Lieder), Schönberg had taken the size of the orchestra to its practical…