MTT, SF Symphony, reunite with Mahler’s moody masterpiece

One of the great achievements of the Michael Tilson Thomas era at the San Francisco Symphony has been the orchestra’s deep dive into the music of Gustav Mahler.

From 2001 to 2010, the conductor and his orchestra performed and recorded the complete Mahler symphonies, as well as the composer’s works for voice, chorus and orchestra, on the SFS Media label. Mahler’s Symphony No. 7 in E minor, recorded in 2006, was one of the cycle’s highlights, garnering Grammy Awards for best classical album and best orchestral performance — two of the seven Grammys MTT and the orchestra received for this decade-spanning recording project.

This week, MTT returns to Davies Symphony Hall to conduct Mahler’s mercurial Seventh Symphony, once again traversing this monumental five-movement score. With its expansive outer movements, and two “Night Music” movements framing a beguiling scherzo, this nearly 90-minute performance is an always-heroic undertaking; this time around, as Tilson Thomas and his orchestra approach the end of the 2018-19 season, it should be one of those great Mahler events to remember.

Details: 8 p.m. May 16-18, Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco; $35-$195; 415-864-6000, www.sfsymphony.org.