Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde

Fabio Luisi leads the Concertgebouworkest, Anna Larsson and Robert Dean Smith in Gustav Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde. For the first time, symphony and song cycle melted together.

Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde

Das Lied von der Erde is a symphony and should really have been Mahler’s Ninth. Like many other composers, Mahler stood in awe of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony; one consequence of this was the conviction that it was not possible to compose more than nine symphonies. After having completed his Eighth Symphony, Mahler came up with a cunning plan: a symphony in the form of a cycle of six orchestral songs. After Das Lied von der Erde Mahler was even able to compose his own Ninth Symphony.

Fabio Luisi, conductor

The Italian conductor Fabio Luisi made his first guest appearance with the Concertgebouworkest in 2005. He has been appointed to the Wiener Symphoniker, the Semperoper and Staatskapelle in Dresden and the Metropolitan Opera in New York, among others. Luisi is currently music director of the Zurich Opera, chief conductor of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and became most recently music director of the Opera di Firenze and the associated festival Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.

Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde

Das Lied von der Erde is a symphony and should really have been Mahler’s Ninth. Like many other composers, Mahler stood in awe of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony; one consequence of this was the conviction that it was not possible to compose more than nine symphonies. After having completed his Eighth Symphony, Mahler came up with a cunning plan: a symphony in the form of a cycle of six orchestral songs. After Das Lied von der Erde Mahler was even able to compose his own Ninth Symphony.

Fabio Luisi, conductor

The Italian conductor Fabio Luisi made his first guest appearance with the Concertgebouworkest in 2005. He has been appointed to the Wiener Symphoniker, the Semperoper and Staatskapelle in Dresden and the Metropolitan Opera in New York, among others. Luisi is currently music director of the Zurich Opera, chief conductor of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and became most recently music director of the Opera di Firenze and the associated festival Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.

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