Luisi, Dallas Symphony commence a new season with magnificent Mahler
The first appearance of music director Fabio Luisi in the Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s 2025-26 season brought a riveting rendition of Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 Thursday evening.
Even though Mahler’s Fourth carries no overt program, it resembles his other symphonies in its engagement with ideas of faith, redemption and the afterlife through allusions to folk poetry, Mahler’s songs and even his own experiences. In the case of the Fourth Symphony, the scherzo alludes to the motif of the Dance of Death and the finale incorporates Mahler’s song setting of “The Heavenly Life” from the poem collection, Des Knaben Wunderhorn.
Luisi’s attention to tempo and dynamics as he guided the orchestra through the work helped to maximize the impact of these elements for the audience. Although the brief, loping sleigh-bell figure that introduces the themes of the first movement exposition appeared deceptively simple, Luisi’s rubato already hinted at the angst to follow, and was confirmed by the strident horns that announced the onset of the fragmentary development.
In the grotesque scherzo, chromatic, off-kilter melodies evoking the macabre image of Death as a fiddler were augmented by concertmaster Alexander Kerr’s down-tuned violin. Luisi added further irony to the scherzo through accents on each downbeat, imbuing the movement with an almost mock formality and sentimentality.
The slow movement creates an impression of reflections on recurring musical themes and their associated moods of grief, anguish and consolation. Luisi’s directing of tempo and dynamics rendered these largely distinct, further enhancing their isolation. Even so, the episodes gradually built to a climax toward the end of the movement, which saw the orchestra marshaling its resources into a dramatic exhortation.
In the pastoral tranquility of the finale, Sofia Fomina’s clear, bright soprano fully captured the poignancy of the wide-eyed innocence behind the movement’s text, which describes a child’s view of heaven. Emily Levin’s harp and David Matthews’ English horn further reinforced the movement’s sense of naïveté.
The sensitivity, attention to detail and quality of execution by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra under Fabio Luisi made the entire Mahler performance intense and compelling. This Mahler Fourth complemented the DSO’s performance of the composer’s Second Symphony that closed last season and anticipates the upcoming presentation of the Eighth Symphony next May.
The evening began with Haydn’s Symphony No. 92.
The brief introduction to the first movement shifted seamlessly to the Alegro as the DSO under Luisi’s direction negotiated the nimble exposition. Luisi held the increased energy in check and maintained a well-mannered decorum throughout the development and into the movement’s recapitulation.
The slow movement also suggested an air of refined elegance with its clear, ternary form and the cordial formality of its opening theme, which broadened into a delicate wind interlude. The good-natured minuet and trio playfully parodied its own grandeur with irregular phrase lengths and a syncopated theme obscuring the beat, although the humor of this movement seemed undermined by an overly leisurely tempo.
Luisi compensated for this in the finale, urging the DSO onward as they executed the movement at an almost impossibly brisk pace, and concluding the finale and the symphony with controlled exuberance.
The program will be repeated 2 p.m. Sunday. dallassymphony.org
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