Mahler 6 & Goerner plays Mozart

THE TRAGIC

When a radio interviewer asked the world-renowned Argentine pianist Nelson Goerner what exactly he admired about Mozart’s Twentythird Piano Concerto, he listed the following: “the surprising simplicity, the musical depth and the mysterious contemplation”. By this he was referring especially to the second movement, “a movement in which there is something divine, ineffable”. Mozart composed this concerto - whose first and third movements are full of joie de vivre - at the same time as the opera The Marriage of Figaro. The aria-like character of the middle movement and the buffocoda of the last movement bear witness to this.

High-level performances in Brussels of all Mahler’s symphonies in just two years is the ambition of the great Mahler cycle of the three federal cultural institutions. In this concert, the Belgian National Orchestra, led by Chief Conductor Antony Hermus, ventures into the Sixth Symphony. Mahler composed this work in what was perhaps the happiest period of his life. Yet the Sixth Symphony, sometimes referred to as “The Tragic”, seems incredibly sombre. Many people (including his wife Alma Mahler) have attributed prophetic qualities to this composition, both on a personal and historical level. Indeed, the death of Mahler’s eldest daughter, his dismissal as conductor of the Vienna Hofoper, the troubling diagnosis of a heart valve infection, and First World War – all of which were imminent – are the tragic events that correspond to the dark character of the Sixth Symphony. Particularly famous is the fourth and final movement, in which a giant hammer is used to generate a fatal blow of fate. With the exception of this work (in this concert in collaboration with the orchestra of la Monnaie / de Munt) offers deeply haunting and unforgettable moments.
 

A concert in synergy with Bozar & la Monnaie

More information about the Mahler Cycle

Antony Hermus, conductor
Nelson Goerner, piano

© Photo by GR-DR