While the work is indubitably a highly emotional late Romantic masterpiece, not since
Bernstein's heyday has an interpretation of
Mahler's First Symphony been so radically subjective. With the super virtuoso
London Symphony supporting him all the way,
Gergiev holds back the tempo at the start of the opening movement, then charges full throttle through the development to the coda's explosive climax. In the Ländler that follows,
Gergiev irresistibly pushes the stamping outer sections forward, but lingers lovingly over the sentimental melody of the central Trio.