About the Show
To compose a symphony was to create a world for Gustav Mahler. Certainly, no composer poured more of his heart, his soul and even his health into his orchestral works. Critics may debate which is Mahler’s finest work for orchestra. But one that audiences love best is his Symphony No. 5, which takes a listener on a journey from tormented darkness to brilliant light. Taut and lean, polyphonic and purely orchestral, the Fifth Symphony was composed at the height of Mahler’s career, just after a major health scare, and just before meeting the woman he would marry. Its adagietto, one of the most sublime moments in all of classical music, is Mahler’s musical love letter to Alma Schindler. Mere months after she first heard it, they were married. Paolo Bortolameolli concludes the season with the symphony of which conductor Herbert von Karajan said, while listening to it, “you forget that time has passed.”
