Mahler 6 Fischer

Adam Fischer writes: In the Düsseldorf Tonhalle in late February and early March 2020, we gave Mahler’s Sixth Symphony in three live concert performances which we recorded for this album. This date in the calendar had special significance: the first lockdown period due to the Corona pandemic set in immediately thereafter. The orchestra was playing in full line-up in front of a full house for the last time for a long while. The mood was ominous: we all felt something was amiss, and the next day everything had to be cancelled. We strongly associate those circumstances with our work on the Sixth, and with the foreboding we felt of a catastrophe that has since ruined the livelihoods of many musician colleagues and deprived us all of a meaningful period in our lives.

This is the first disc to be made in Budapest’s new National Concert Hall where the orchestra recently staged a Mahler festival in celebration of the composer’s local connections. Notwithstanding the change of venue and the extra forces deployed, it is very much a typical Budapest Festival production, lithe and alert, without necessarily sounding what older hands may think of as Mahlerian…

From the symphony to the song would seem to be an enormous step: from the largest form for the largest orchestra to the smallest form for the smallest ensemble. Gustav Mahler nonetheless brought them together and interwove them in previous symphonies as well as in ‘Das Lied von der Erde’. "The long, endlessly stretched crescendo on the single note "e" (filled with so much desire) leads to the final part of Abschied, which I can only describe with the word ‘cosmic’. The voice is surrounded by floating meteors, objects, particles or stars, which move in various directions and speeds. We have left the atmosphere and look back on the beautiful green and blue planet." - Iván Fischer

From the symphony to the song would seem to be an enormous step: from the largest form for the largest orchestra to the smallest form for the smallest ensemble. Gustav Mahler nonetheless brought them together and interwove them in previous symphonies as well as in ‘Das Lied von der Erde’. "The long, endlessly stretched crescendo on the single note "e" (filled with so much desire) leads to the final part of Abschied, which I can only describe with the word ‘cosmic’. The voice is surrounded by floating meteors, objects, particles or stars, which move in various directions and speeds. We have left the atmosphere and look back on the beautiful green and blue planet." - Iván Fischer, conductor

For the third installment in Adam Fischer's Mahler cycle on CAvi-music, he leads the Düsseldorf Symphony in a straightforward and polished presentation of the Symphony No. 1 in D major, assembled from several concert recordings in February 2017. This 2018 release offers a nearly flawless version of one of Mahler's most popular symphonies, and Fischer prudently avoids any anachronistic associations with the symphony's earlier form as a symphonic poem.

Rafael Kubelik's highly chromatic, poetic Mahler recordings have been staples in Duetsche Grammophon's catalogue since their inception. Tempos overall tend to be quicker than the norm (Symphony No. 8 for instance fits conveniently on one CD), yet never at the expense of glossing over the composers renowned wealth of inner details. Many Mahler aficionados still regard Kubelik's readings here of the Symphonies No. 1 and No. 7 as reference recordings. Distinguished soloists include Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Edith Mathis, Norma Proctor, Franz Crass, and Julia Hamari. The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra as well as the various outstanding choirs employed throughout the cycle couldn't be more in sync with Kubelik's inspired visionary interpretations.