Program
Gustav Mahler (1860 – 1911)
Symphony No. 9 in D Major (1908 – 1909)
I. Andante comodo
II. Im Tempo eines gemächlichen Ländlers. Etwas täppisch und sehr derb (At the pace of a leisurely dance. Somewhat clumsy and very rough)
III. Rondo-Burleske: Allegro assai. Sehr trotzig (Rondo-burlesque. Allegro assai. Very defiant)
IV. Adagio. Sehr langsam und noch zurückhaltend (Adagio. Very slow and held back)
musicAeterna Orchestra
Conductor Teodor Currentzis
Details
In May 2023 the musicAeterna orchestra conducted by Teodor Currentzis will perform Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 in Madrid and Barcelona. This is one of the most mysterious scores of late Romanticism in general and Mahler’s legacy in particular. The reason for that is not the “curse of the Ninth Symphony”, which the composer himself obviously feared, having titled his previous vocal-symphonic opus not a symphony, but “The Song of the Earth”.
The Ninth is paradoxical. In this symphony Mahler seems to be returning to the origins of the genre abandoning the vocal and choral inclusions that he favoured so much, the poetic text and programme, even the gigantic orchestral composition. However, the supposedly traditional four-part cycle has strayed so far from the classical and romantic canons of form, harmony, and tonality, that the foreshadowing of the music of the new, 20th century is clearly heard in it — and this is one of the most fascinating meta-plots of the entire work.