Philharmonia Orchestra, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Michelle DeYoung

Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Philharmonia Orchestra perform Mahler’s epic Third Symphony, a six-movement ode to the natural world.

The first of five Mahler symphonies performed by the Philharmonia this season: Mahler’s Third Symphony, written beside an Austrian mountain lake, is a work where `nature acquires a voice and tells profound secrets’.

Mahler’s sound-world is all-encompassing. Flowing from the intense summer heat of the first movement’s driving fanfares and marches, the third movement journeys to a moonlit forest before a descent in the fourth into darkness, its eerie rocking motif ushering in a haunting mezzo-soprano solo.

Finally, the music breaks out onto Mahler’s vision of heaven in a staggering slow movement, its immense final bars issuing thundering timpani to bring everything on earth to a triumphant standstill.

Performers:
Philharmonia Orchestra
Esa-Pekka Salonen conductor
Michelle DeYoung mezzo-soprano
Philharmonia Voices

Repertoire:
Mahler: Symphony No.3