Gustav Mahler’s monumental, 80-minutes long 7th Symphony may be a bit like a confused story looking for a plot, but under Sir Simon Rattle’s baton the London Symphony Orchestra gave it a freshness that kept their audience enraptured from beginning to end.

Sir Simon Rattle conducts the London Symphony Orchestra. Photo © Peter Wallis

Conducting from memory, Rattle, one of the world’s leading exponents of Mahler’s works, could have just dashed it off. But having his intimate knowledge of every minutest detail, he took the trouble to give every one of them a nuanced interpretation, even on the fly. A subtle change in tempo here, a slight variation in volume there, a bit more horn here, a little less first violins there, all resulted in a performance that gave Mahler’s story its elusive plot.

Especially remarkable was the way the orchestra responded to Rattle’s spontaneity. Despite the occasional tiniest over-reactions, the musicians know Rattle’s style and gestures so well, those minuscule adjustments are barely noticeable on their own, but, when added together, create an edge-of-the-seat experience for the audience.

This was a performance that was as visually thrilling as it was aurally.

Mahler was...