Mahler’s Seventh Symphony was the single work given by the Berlin Philharmonic in the first of their two Proms, a riveting performance under Kirill Petrenko, for whom, one suspects, this most enigmatic of the composer’s symphonies holds considerable significance. In 2018, a year before he took up his post in Berlin, he conducted it with his previous orchestra, the Bayerische Staatsoper, both in Munich and in London, and his live recording (made during the Munich performances), was widely regarded as something of a benchmark that subjected the work to a revelatory re-evaluation. This Proms performance reinforced his reputation as one of the symphony’s outstanding interpreters in a concert of startling brilliance.
