Gustav Mahler was born on July 7, 1860, and he died in 1911 in Vienna.
For me, one of the most joyous symphonies that Mahler composed is his number 4. It starts with the sounds of cow bells, which imitate the sounds heard by grazing cows at the site in Seefeld, Austria, where the Second and the Third were conceived.
I spent a week in the Seefeld area, close to the lake called “Attersee”, and I always connect with Mahler’s music and my own memories.
So this recording of the Symphony #4 is my own way of wishing Mahler my own “Happy Birthday”.
In this performance, Claudio Abbado conducts Mahler and Schoenberg.
Mahler:
- Symphony No. 4, with Juliane Banse (soprano)
Schoenberg:
- Pelleas und Melisande, Op. 5
Performed by the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, Claudio Abbado conducting.
What makes these performances so remarkable is that their impact is never achieved at the expense of exaggerations and extreme interpretations.
Mahler’s Fourth Symphony and Schoenberg’s Pelleas and Melisande are performed by one of the world’s leading youth orchestras: The Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra.
Here, for your enjoyment, is the opening of the Mahler Symphony #4:
