CD: Mahler: Symphony No 7

Whatever else one thinks of the previous instalments of Michael Tilson Thomas's Mahler cycle, all taken from performances in San Francisco's Davies Concert Hall, the quality of the orchestral playing and the lustrous detail of the recordings have been outstanding. The same is true of this account of the Seventh: there is a fabulous security to the San Francisco Symphony's playing, and every fleck of one of Mahler's most texturally adventurous scores is clear. But Tilson Thomas's approach is still unconvincing. The poise of the two Nightmusic movements is well judged, but the opening movement lacks the kind of numinous spaciousness it needs, and Tilson Thomas fails in his attempt to integrate the elements of the finale. This performance leaves the true character of the symphony enigmatic.