There were many empty seats as unknown (to me) Daniel Harding led the Phil in Deryck Cooke's performing edition of Mahler's Symphony No. 10. The opening was very slow and I worried; I worried more as the main theme entered also very slowly. However, the music had strength and momentum even at that tempo so that Harding here proved that he knows how to make the piece work. The orchestra was splendid throughout, and there are many demands on it, especially the winds. Harding was able to balance the brass, a major hurdle with this orchestra. He extracted a beautiful performance.
With the performance allowing the music to deliver all it had to offer, I was left to feel that however beautifully Cooke allowed us to see the direction Mahler was taking with this Tenth Symphony, the final result is significantly lacking in musical inspiration and cohesion. I'm beginning to think that Mahler's sketchy score contained what appear to be tunes but are, perhaps, just shorthand for what was already in Mahler's head as a much more complex and profound utterance. The work we have does not deliver the Mahlerian goods to me, but simply hints at the direction the would might have taken. I'm dropping this down to the Mahler symphony I'm least looking forward to hearing again.