Mahler Universe Tells me

The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and their Music Director Riccardo Chailly have already acquired legendary status – glorious reviews and many awards for their recordings testifying to their continuing success. At Leipzig’s International Mahler Festival, to mark the centenary of Mahler’s death, they performed his monumental Second Symphony in the Gewandhaus – together with two marvellous soloists and choral forces quite beyond compare. About the final movement the composer said: “The increasing tension, working up to the final climax, is so tremendous that I don’t know myself, now that it is over, how I ever came to write it.”

As Riccardo Chailly points out, “The Fifth begins with a dark, gloomy, and tragic tone, but then is enlivened in the Scherzo and Adagietto, and eventually ends with a more positive character in the Finale – perhaps for the last time in Mahler’s life. The Adagietto is a revelation, a spiritual oasis. It is not an expression of pain, but rather Mahler’s declaration of love to Alma – a song without words.“ With the Gewandhaus Orchestra, Chailly gives the piece an unsurpassed intensity of sound and emotional expression. He achieves a compelling arc of tension in which the symphony’s unique fascination unfolds. The Wiener Zeitung characterized Chailly’s interpretation as „impressive with powerful and unreserved intensity.“

"The audience knows that the performance of a Mahler symphony is not only a musical experience, but is also emotionally effective" (R. Chailly). This counts especially for Mahler's enigmatic sixth symphony, an emotionally stirring challenge for both performers and listeners, whilst also being one of the most impressive works in musical history. Chailly's interpretation with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra is "intensely great" (Die Presse). "Chailly uncompromisingly considers this sixth symphony through the lens of modernity; looking forward, not retrospectively staying in 'late romantic'. In this celebrated orchestra, all sections splendidly come together and fulfil an 'open' sound, conserving whilst respecting its original beauty." (Salzburger Nachrichten)

How good to see Riccardo Chailly so radiant at the end of this great event.It's an exhilaration he earns through sheer hard work as well as injecting the adrenalin at most of the right moments.(Majority) of the singers are excellent,from two very different but keenly-projected lyric-dramatic sopranos,Erika Sunnegardh and Ricardo Merbeth,to Georg Zeppenfeld,whose bass is rock solid and expressive across a huge range.Chailly holds attention between movements and makes you realise how many soloists within the orchestra have to sing,too.His Leader,the superb Sebastian Breuninger,assists him between blazes in the most striking of chamber-musical moments.Breuninger shares the front desk of viloins in Claudio Abbado's Lucerne festival Orchestra,but this one Mahler symphony Abbado's forces have yet to tackle,and Chailly's rendering leads the field on DVD. (BBC Music Magzine)

Gustav Mahlers 8th Symphony breaks the boundaries of the symphonic form in a world-embracing gesture. Riccardo Chailly is one of the staunchest performers of this work, and therefore it seemed appropriate in many ways that he chose this work for his inaugural concert as Claudio Abbados successor and new music director of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra. The artistic statement was combined with a deeply personal conviction: it should be a 'tribute to Claudio', the highly esteemed friend and colleague to whom Chailly, as he emphasizes, owes very much. On 12 August 2016, Claudio Abbados unfinished Mahler cycle with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra was completed in a breathtaking performance of the Mahler 8th, simultaneously heralding in a new era in Lucerne.

A host of accomplished conductors including Daniel Harding, Daniele Gatti, Bernard Haitink and Eliahu Inbal lead the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in these performances of Mahler's Symphonies Nos. 1-10. Recorded in Amsterdam over two seasons in 2010/11, the collection also includes 'Das Lied von der Erde'.

With this 7th symphony concert conducted by Zubin Mehta featuring the baritone Thomas Quasthoff, the Staatskapelle Dresden initiated its Mahler celebrations due to the composer’s 150th birthday in 2010. Mehta has been one of the outstanding personalities of the international music scene for years. Already at the age of 25 he conducted the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic as well as the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Since 1994 he has been closely associated with the Staatskapelle Dresden. Thomas Quasthoff is one of the most important and versatile singer of our time. Three of his CD recordings have been awarded with the Grammy.

Barcelona’s Palau de la Música Catalana, world heritage site and one of the world’s most beautiful concert halls, hosted Gustavo Dudamel and the Münchner Philharmoniker with an unforgettable performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 “The Resurrection.“ The composer emphasizes life and death in all its terrible and stunning splendor in this overwhelming opus: “There is nothing except the complete substance of my whole life”, he remarked on his all-embracing oeuvre. Gustavo Dudamel, who said it was “a privilege to conduct this work in this unique venue,“ and his ensemble were celebrated with more than then minutes of applause.

Giuseppe Sinopoli was a conductor quite versed in Mahler’s music. He left recordings of all the Mahler symphonies made for Deutsche Grammophon (DGG). It is well known that each of these performances is on the highest level. So it is natural that most listeners think these Mahler recordings are the last word of Sinopoli’s interpretation.