THE OBSERVER
July 22, 2007

Maestro with the mostest
Kurt Masur conducts two orchestras in dazzling style

Stephen Pritchard

Every Proms season has its memorable nights, but this year's reached a pinnacle even before the first week was out when Kurt Masur chose to celebrate his 80th birthday with one hell of a party, inviting not one, but two orchestras and 6,000 adoring fans. In a unique collaboration, Masur conducted the English and French orchestras with which he still holds principal conductor positions - the London Philharmonic and the Orchestre National de France - in Tchaikovsky's elegant Serenade for Strings and Bruckner's mighty seventh symphony (Prom 7).

The sheer size of the ensemble for the Bruckner was awesome: 12 double basses stood along the top of the stage like gruff sentinels; two sets of timpani roared over the heads of legions of brass who in turn blazed away over a sea of strings and woodwind. I lost count of the number of violinists crammed on to the platform - there were so many the back desks were almost in the laps of the audience.

The deep-pile luxury of all these strings gave the Serenade a richness quite possibly beyond even Tchaikovsky's expectations, but Masur never let quantity get in the way of poise and elegance, making the pianissimo passages particularly telling, despite the best efforts of an apparently consumptive audience to drown them out.

From the moment the famous 'dream theme' opened Bruckner's seventh we knew the next hour was going to be a revelation. Such large forces gave Masur the opportunity to exploit every subtle nuance in the first movement and draw real pathos from the adagio. He obviously adores these players, blowing a kiss to the brass section after they romped through the blistering third movement and gathering each principal in his arms at the triumphant close to the finale. As the promenaders stamped and cheered their birthday good wishes, this astonishing octogenarian chose the prelude from Die Meistersingers as a trifling encore. In years to come, those in the hall will count themselves blessed to have been among that fortunate 6,000.