Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde

LIEDER AUS ""DES KNABEN WUNDER

SYMPHONY NO. 3 IN D MINOR

DAS LIED VON DER ERDE

To this day Gustav Mahler understands how to make others tremble. The dispatchers and managers of the finance departments of orchestras, whose artistic directors would like to put a Mahler Symphony on the program again. Trembling, because it is clear: that will be expensive again in view of the often gigantic, often also exotic instruments that Mahler has used for his refined sound effects. Again and again it has rained colleagues of the master to transform his symphonies to small formats. Where, from an artistic point of view, the main thing was to try to solve the content of the opulent packaging, so to speak, without distorting the musical message. And so the Austrian composer and conductor Erwin Stein, a Schoenberg pupil, created in 1921 a chamber music version of the 4th Symphony for woodwinds, string quintet, percussion, harmonium and piano. The music of Mahler, and in particular the Symphony No. 4, bathing in a very romantic light, in an extremely fiery and at the same time serene setting, almost classically situated between the monumental symphonies No. 3 and No. 5, left much more than any others to a revision. The work interpreted in this form provides new insights and experiences and proves once again that beauty and the poetic and expressive meaning of a masterpiece can be rediscovered infinitely new.

Import Hybrid-SACD pressing.

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The embodiment of the most serious and most sacred artistic will of our time,' said Thomas Mann after the premiere of the Symphony No. 8 to Gustav Mahler. The impressive Mahler Symphony cycle from the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra continues, with a new recording of the Seventh and it's famous 'Night Music' movements. 'The Germans and their conductor Jonathan Nott are proving to be a dream team for Mahler, so we've been eager to hear the latest installment.' - David Nice, BBC Music Magazine.

My Sixth will propound riddles the solution of which may be attempted only by a generation which has absorbed and digested my first five symphonies.' Thus Gustav Mahler, writing in 1904 to his biographer Richard Specht. Mahler did nothing to help solve the riddles, and these words are his only authentic statement regarding this most difficult symphony. It remains puzzling, beginning with the discrepancy between this fatalistic music that ends in total collapse and his situation at the time (1903/1904).

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The Bamberger Symphoniker and Jonathan Nott present Mahler's Symphony No. 7. Mahler's seventh was described as "very problematic" by Otto Klemperer following it's premiere, and as "a weak piece" by Theodor W. Adorno. Mahler himself considered this work to be mainly cheerful and humoristic in content. Here, we encounter a masterpiece of formal construction, instrumentation and, above all, content.

In August of 2015, Andris Nelsons conducted the Lucerne Festival Orchestra for the third time.; The last time the orchestra had played Mahler’s Symphony no. 5 was in the summer of 2004 under their founder, Claudio Abbado. Nelson’s interpretation is different, but no less inspiring, with its fiery passion.; Baritone Matthias Goerne’s smooth, warm voice is perfect for capturing the somber mood of this music, which begins with a funeral march.; Truly, this live recording brilliantly captures the relationship and trust between ensemble and conductor.

The New York Philharmonic - America's preeminent symphony orchestra gave 'A Concert for New York' to mark the tenth anniversary of the events of 9/11. What work could be better suited to the occasion than Mahler's 'Resurrection' Symphony with it's 'evocation of every aspect of life' and 'it's profound sense of hope', as the Philharmonic's Music Director Alan Gilbert put it? This concert became an unforgettable event, a 'consistently impressive' performance with 'gripping playing', 'magnificent' soloists and an 'excellent' chorus (New York Times).

For Gustav Mahler, composing his early symphonies meant "building a world”. His Ninth, however, seems more concerned with the deconstruction of this world – a look back, a long farewell. In the draft of his score, he noted words like "O youth! Vanished! O love! Blown away! ". In 1909, his idyllic world was destroyed, having been diagnosed with a heart valve defect two years earlier – a disease that would ultimately lead to his death. While his last completed symphony still contains some folksy elements, Mahler composed a heartbreaking Adagio as its Finale. Herbert Blomstedt, Honorary Conductor of the Bamberger Symphoniker, guides the orchestra through this rollercoaster of emotions, ranging between deep sadness, comfort and melancholia. This exceptional recording is the first album release with the Bamberger Symphoniker and their honorary conductor Herbert Blomstedt.

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REVIEW:

It’s not an ideal performance overall, perhaps, but it is a distinctive one in mostly positive ways. It also proves to be an important addition to the Blomstedt discography, an artist whose unassuming but musically exalted presence has graced our concert halls for something like seven decades. Beautiful, clear sonics and two discs for the price of one make this a release that most Mahlerians should hear.

– ClassicsToday

Mahler, G.: Symphony No. 10 (Wheeler, 1966 version)