Philharmonia Orchestra
Mahler Symphony no. 9
Two late romantic masterpieces from Vienna make up this programme. One of the truly great pieces for strings, Verklärte Nacht, (Transfigured Night) is a musical translation of a poem in which a woman and man, walking through a forest at night, find their emotional difficulties transformed by the healing power of love. The writing is remarkably evocative and imaginative, transfiguring the musical material itself, before dissolving in a serene conclusion.
Mahler’s Ninth Symphony, completed in 1910, shows the composer’s deepest reactions in the face of death. A passionate love of life; bitterness and sarcasm; and outbursts at hostile fate abound in the first three movements, before the final Adagio eventually brings acceptance, peace and a poignant farewell to earthly things.
