Mäkelä Conducts Mahler 3

Klaus Mäkelä takes the lead in Mahler’s all-encompassing Third Symphony with the Concertgebouw Orchestra. Soloists from within the orchestra will be joined by the brilliant Wiener Singverein, the Vienna Boys Choir, and mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnston. Mahler’s Third is rarely performed because of its massive proportions and the many musicians required. This will be the Concertgebouw Orchestra’s first performance of the work in over eight years. For Klaus Mäkelä, it represents the second opportunity to conduct a Mahler symphony with the orchestra, following his stunning Sixth. 

For his Third Symphony, Gustav Mahler chose as his subject ‘the creation of the entire world.’ The work successively depicts primordial powers, plant and animal life, human beings, angels, and love. With its six movements, the Third Symphony is almost two hours long. That makes it Mahler’s longest symphony and one of the longest pieces in the concert repertoire. Yet initially, Mahler had intended 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. But he thought better of the idea: instead, the song formed the basis for his Fourth Symphony.