Klaus Mäkelä conducts Mahler

Schönberg’s Verklärte Nacht and Mahler’s Symphony No. 1

Klaus Mäkela for KCO Photo: Marco Borggreve image: www.marcoborggreve.com allrights reserved

Under the baton of its artistic partner Klaus Mäkelä, the Concertgebouw Orchestra performs Gustav Mahler’s First Symphony, preceded by Arnold Schoenberg’s emotionally charged Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night).

A Mahler symphony performed by the Concertgebouw Orchestra and its artistiek partner Klaus Mäkelä is a downright sensation.

Concert programme

  • Arnold Schönberg

    Verklärte Nacht

  • -- interval --

  • Gustav Mahler

    Symphony No. 1 'Titan'

Performers

About this concert

When Gustav Mahler came to Amsterdam to conduct the Dutch premiere of his First Symphony in 1903, a close collaboration started – so began the Concertgebouw Orchestra’s much-vaunted Mahler tradition. Klaus Mäkelä steps into that tradition with respect and self-confidence. He previously gave stunning interpretations of the Sixth and the Third, now it is time for the First, which he calls Mahler's 'pastoral’ symphony: ‘I’ve always been attracted to its imaginative beauty, and its freshness. The expression is extremely clear, and it contains all the elements of his later work.’

Klaus Mäkelä opens the concert with Verklärte Nacht by Mahler's contemporary Arnold Schoenberg, who was born 150 years ago in Vienna. The late-romantic work is based on a poem by Richard Dehmel about a woman who confesses to her loved one that she is carrying someone else’s child. The music closely follows the conversation and draws the listener into an intimate emotional journey leading from fear and guilt to pure happiness.

Dates and tickets

About this concert

When Gustav Mahler came to Amsterdam to conduct the Dutch premiere of his First Symphony in 1903, a close collaboration started – so began the Concertgebouw Orchestra’s much-vaunted Mahler tradition. Klaus Mäkelä steps into that tradition with respect and self-confidence. He previously gave stunning interpretations of the Sixth and the Third, now it is time for the First, which he calls Mahler's 'pastoral’ symphony: ‘I’ve always been attracted to its imaginative beauty, and its freshness. The expression is extremely clear, and it contains all the elements of his later work.’

Klaus Mäkelä opens the concert with Verklärte Nacht by Mahler's contemporary Arnold Schoenberg, who was born 150 years ago in Vienna. The late-romantic work is based on a poem by Richard Dehmel about a woman who confesses to her loved one that she is carrying someone else’s child. The music closely follows the conversation and draws the listener into an intimate emotional journey leading from fear and guilt to pure happiness.

A preview