Mahler's Fourth Symphony

Mahler’s Fourth Symphony takes the listener to heaven. Mahler used his song Das himmlische Leben as the basis for this symphony. In the fourth movement, a soprano - accompanied by playful orchestral passages - sings of the pleasures that await the inhabitants of the afterlife. Performed by the symphony orchestra of the Conservatorium van Amsterdam under the baton of internationally acclaimed conductor Jun Märkl.

The concert starts rather dark: the overture from Weber’s opera Der Freischütz is the prelude to a story in which a hunter makes a pact with the devil. The mood gets even more sinister in György Ligeti’s Lontano (Italian for ‘far away’). With his signature style of overlapping musical lines, Ligeti creates a subtle, unearthly soundscape with eerily suspenseful moments.