Klaus Mäkelä Conducts Mahler’s Third symphony

Klaus Mäkelä will lead the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Mahler’s all-encompassing Third Symphony. The brilliant Laurens Symphony Chorus from Rotterdam, the Netherlands National Children's Choir, and mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnston will join soloists from the orchestra. Because of the work’s substantial orchestration and proportions, performances of Mahler’s ‘big, friendly giant’ are rare. In fact, the Concertgebouw Orchestra will be playing the work for the first time in over eight years. This will be Klaus Mäkelä’s second Mahler symphony with the orchestra, following his acclaimed Sixth in the summer of 2022. This performance represents a fabulous opportunity for lovers of vocal symphonic music. 

When Gustav Mahler wrote his Third Symphony, his chosen subject was ‘the creation of the entire world.’ The symphony deals successively with primal forces, flora, fauna, human beings, angels, and love. It lasts almost two hours and has six movements, making it Mahler’s longest symphony. Yet initially, Mahler had hoped to give the piece a seventh movement, based on a song, Das himmlische Leben, from a set of German folk poems known as Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Boy’s Magic Horn). But instead, Mahler decided to use the song as the cornerstone for his Fourth Symphony.