Das Lied von der Erde

Plagued by thoughts of death, Gustav Mahler created some of the most beautiful songs of sorrow in all of music history. Initially the music was intended to be his ninth symphony, but he felt he could not call it that. Both Beethoven and Bruckner had ended with a ninth. And so it was entitled Das Lied von der Erde: symphony for tenor, alto and orchestra, with no number. 

Life and death are intensely present in Richard Strauss’ grand symphonic poem, Tod und Verklärung. It is a story of the life and death of an artist, dressed up in music. The slow introduction depicts a sickbed; the second movement’s stormy allegro describes a feverish struggle with death. Life flashes by in the third movement, before the clarity of the final movement brings redemption.

Hear the internationally acclaimed Swiss mezzosoprano Eve-Maud Hubeaux, Swedish tenor Michael Weinius (replacing the previously announced Nikolai Schukoff) with the Malmö Symphony Orchestra, led by French Fabien Gabel.