I’ve been watching the passionate responses to the concert at Roy Thomson Hall last week when Mandle Cheung conducted the Toronto Symphony in Mahler’s 2nd Symphony.

The Globe & Mail contacted me the day before, asking me if I’d be willing to review the concert.

I was aware of controversy, having seen the piece in the Globe by Josh O’Kane titled “Amateur conductor pays Toronto Symphony Orchestra to lead Mahler performance, shocking some musicians.”

I wanted to sit as close as possible. If any TSO players were resisting their new conductor I wanted to see facial expressions, although even then I would be guessing. And I wanted to have a good close-up look at Mireille Lebel, a singer I admire, who was singing Urlicht. I found a single seat in the front row, allowing me a good view of players and soloists.

In the hours before the concert I did two things in preparation:
1) I pulled out my Gilbert Kaplan recording of Mahler’s 2nd,
2) I went to YouTube to see whether I could hear Mandle conducting.

We’ve been treating Kaplan as the precedent for Mandle, the wealthy man who paid an orchestra to play and record Mahler’s 2nd. But Kaplan only knew the one piece, conducting Mahler’s 2nd several times with different orchestras.

Kaplan’s recording is conventional, nothing unorthodox. And it has amazing liner notes concerning the creation of Mahler’s 2nd. Re-reading them I remembered an offertory rendition of Urlicht (the same song we hear as the fourth movement of Mahler’s 2nd) that I accompanied in church, as we adjusted to a partially disabled singer who was forced to sing from an awkward location in the choir pews, blocked by her physical limitations. I had a revelation about the piece. As I said on Facebook two days ago, “In this symphony an officious Angel tries to block the path to heaven (Urlicht). Whether you’re a Jew being told you must Christianize to be permitted to conduct (as Mahler was), or a Chinese tech mogul (Mandle), mocked even as he paid for the privilege, it shocked me how the drama was re-enacted in Toronto complete with officious angels blocking the path. When Mireille Lebel sang her song I was ugly crying. The tears were also for a TSO sounding wonderful. I’m sad for those who don’t get it.”

At the TSO concert reviewing Mandle for the Globe I had two purposes, listening to his interpretation while looking for evidence of the alleged conflict behind the scenes. I wonder if we can address that indirectly in this blog via the Mandle Philharmonic channel on YouTube.

They describe themselves this way on YouTube:
“𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐞 𝐏𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐜, Canada’s newest orchestra, is the initiative of 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐮𝐧𝐠, a tech entrepreneur who took up the baton. The self-taught conductor, leading an orchestra of world-class musicians, has created an upstart ensemble that forges a new space in orchestral music, through which he can express his lifelong enthusiasm, passion and support of music.⁣”

I have so far listened to a couple of live symphonic performances on YouTube that suggest Mandle is at least a talented amateur.

I only had time last Wednesday to listen to portions of the first thing I found, namely a live video recording of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. Here’s what the page says:
“A performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 by the Mandle Philharmonic Orchestra on Nov 29, 2024 at Koerner Hall in Toronto.“

There are a couple of traits or habits we see in Mandle’s reading of the Beethoven that I also saw in the Mahler 2nd with the TSO. Perhaps I should think of it as a tendency to maximize the moments of drama in the music. In the last moments of the trio in the Beethoven’s 9th scherzo, as Beethoven is teasing us for a moment before the recapitulation, Mandle maximizes that teasing-torture. I can’t decide if it’s brilliant or silly, but it’s unique. He did precisely the same thing with those agonized moments before the recapitulation in the first movement of the Mahler 2nd, drawing out that climactic discord maximizing the suspenseful agony. It’s very stagey, very theatrical. Whether you like it or not, and whether or not anyone else does this, you have to admit: this is an interpretation. It’s unique. It’s musical, it’s dramatic, and he’s no mere copy-cat: which is what I felt when I encountered Gilbert Kaplan’s Mahler. Kaplan is not terribly unique, he’s conservative, he’s safe.

Not so with Mandle.

There’s another characteristic he sometimes displays. At times he encourages the orchestra to go fast, playing up tempo contrasts. It’s not so evident in the Beethoven as in the other video I encountered, namely Mahler’s 4th Symphony. I wish I had heard it before hearing him lead the TSO.

It’s described this way:
“Mandle Cheung directs the Mandle Philharmonic at Koerner Hall, Toronto, September 20, 2024.” The video was posted in May of 2025.

When I wrote about the Mahler 2nd with TSO I said something in the Globe review that might sound disparaging:
“I’m not sure if what I heard was entirely Cheung’s interpretation, as there were times that the orchestra seemed to take over, going so fast that I wondered whether Cheung was more like a rider trying to stay on his horse rather than the controlling force behind the piece.“

Now of course had I heard the Mahler 4th I would have recognized this as a regular trait of Mandle’s interpretations, a flamboyant enjoyment of the drama built into the composition. Sometimes he speeds the orchestra up, going very fast, sometimes allowing the schmaltz to slow things right down, as in the 2nd movement of the Mahler 4th. I think it’s a bit over the top, full of excitement, and perhaps the TSO players were following his direction when they went so fast as to seem to be controlling the piece. But again, this is evidence that Mandle is an original interpreter. Whether you share his taste or not, he’s very musical. This orchestra plays very well, a talented and capable group.

The fact that the TSO concert was almost totally sold out, and given a rapturous reception by the audience? Yes the TSO and the soloists were brilliant. Maybe the tickets were sold largely out of love of Mahler. But maybe the “amateur” has a following.

I will have to hear more of Mandle’s interpretations. Mandle Philharmonic are back October 2nd at Koerner Hall playing Brahms’ 1st and Beethoven’s 7th symphonies. For further information or tickets, click here.