Listen to the Classics

Mehta in former years

I’ve always admired how some people keep going.  They don't let ageism or whatever everyone else is doing slow them down.

Take the conductor Zubin Mehta, for example. He's 89 and still challenging himself! Since he became the LA Phil’s conductor emeritus, he’s been bringing these huge, late-Romantic works to the Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Last week, he tackled Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 8. It took a little while to gel, but he delivered a performance I won't forget. I hadn't seen him in years, and I don’t know if I will again. Even in his twilight years, Mehta has always been considered one of the top conductors around.

He is pretty frail these days. He showed up last Friday in a wheelchair and carefully made his way up the podium steps. He had to cancel some shows this month and next with the Israel Philharmonic, due to health reasons. But he was determined to make this appearance and put on another massive, late-Romantic show.

Bruckner’s Eighth is his longest symphony because he didn’t live long enough to finish the Ninth. The sketches for the Ninth's finale would have made it just as long. So, the Eighth is the big one. It mixes things up by switching the scherzo and the slow movement to the second and third spots. The scherzo is spiritual, and the Adagio movement goes deep, pushing the edge of dissonance without totally crossing the line.

I read in the program that Mehta and Bruckner go back to when he was training in Vienna in the 1950s. One of his very first recordings was Bruckner’s Symphony No. 9 with the Vienna Philharmonic.

Mehta took the Eighth Symphony slowly, except for the Adagio. The first movement started strong with this rich sound from the cellos and basses, though the strings weren't perfectly in sync, and the horns were a bit off at times.

He conducted the whole thing from memory with minimal gestures—not like the energetic moves he used to make when he was younger. Still, he kept things flowing and built suspense in the Adagio perfectly, timing that first big cymbal crash and getting these powerful sounds from the brass section.

When it ended, Mehta managed to walk very slowly, with some help from the first violinist, straight off to the wings without the wheelchair. It felt triumphant, even defiant. His father, Mehli Mehta, also a conductor, once said in his 90s, “Mehtas never stop.” Apparently so.