★★★★½ A master conducting a master, Simone Young proves she is at the top of her game.

Festival Theatre, Adelaide
July 23, 2016

There is a lot linking Simone Young and Gustav Mahler. Both acclaimed interpreters of Wagner; they each had intensive conducting residencies with the Hamburg State Opera. Both are considered to be among the best conductors of their generations. When Young conducts Mahler she does so with formidable strength and meticulous knowledge of the tradition in which she sits.

Programming an entrée to Mahler’s Symphony No 6 is difficult. The sheer length of the main course restricts the orchestra to something short that will not exhaust either the players or the audience. Opening with Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony, in this sense, was a safe choice. Young and the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra performed this admirably but with reservation: the opening movement began with a brisk and pleasant tempo, never quite reaching the climactic potential of the movement but still sitting pleasantly in its 3/4 time. By contrast the second movement was truly beautiful. In this context it is tempting (but perhaps dismissive) to see the Schubert as a type of ‘baby sixth’, full of emotional highs contrasted with moments of...