Leonard Slatkin and the National Symphony begin their Beethoven-as-reconceived-by Mahler series. Some things work, some don’t. “Last night’s concert could not have happened at any other time in history but our own, and because of that, it’s worth hearing. A century ago, critics would have to have been either fer or agin this sort of thing. Now they can hedge with that best of all hedges: Who knows if Mahler’s Beethoven is good or bad, but it’s certainly interesting.” – Washington Post