Gustav Mahler Anniversary!
Gustav Mahler died in 1911 in Vienna. There was a huge funeral attended by his friends and supporters. He was buried at a cemetery outside the city, next to his little daughter who died of Diphtheria while he was still alive.
Mahler was born on the 7th of July 1860, and 2010 is therefore the 150th anniversary of his birth. And… 2011 is the 100th anniversary of his death! As such, it is appropriate that the first-ever Mahler Complete Edition, comprised of an 18-CD collection is now available for collectors.
We get the ten symphonies, Das Lied von der Erde, Das Klagende Lied, the song cycles, the Knaben Wunderhorn songs and early works – in benchmark recordings by a great assembly of Mahler conductors, singers and orchestras.
Each Symphony in this collection features a different conductor, and the list is awesome: Abbado (no. 6), Bernstein (no. 5), Boulez (no. 4), Chailly (no. 10), Giulini (Das Lied), Haitink (no. 3), Karajan (no. 9), Kubelik (no. 1), Mehta (no. 2), Sinopoli (no. 7), Solti (no. 8).
The orchestras are the finest in the world: Berliner Philharmoniker, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestrea, Philharmonia Orchestra, Wiener Philharmoniker.
Singers featured include Thomas Hampson (song-cycles, with Bernstein), Anne Sofie von Otter and Thomas Quasthoff (their Grammy-winning Knaben Wunderhorn lieder, with Abbado), Ileana Cotrubas and Christa Ludwig in the Resurrection Symphony, Maureen Forrester in the Third, Juliane Banse in the Fourth, Francisco Araiza and Brigitte Fassbaender in Das Lied von der Erde , and a starry array in no.8).
In addition, rarities like Das Klagende Lied, rejected movements from the First and Second Symphonies, Mahler’s early songs and chamber music are included in this collection.
Here is Leonard Bernstein, conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra at the Large Hall of the Friends of Music (where Mahler himself had conducted), performing the Adagietto from Mahler’s Symphony #5:
Tags: Gustav Mahler, Wiener Philharmoniker, symphonies, Das Lied von der Erde, Das Klagende Lied, Bernstein, Abbado, Karajan, Haitink, Adagietto