Daniele Gatti / Mahler' Second Symphony

The closing concert of the 78th Maggio Musicale Fiorentino is directed by Daniele Gatti: in program the Second Symphony of Gustav Mahler, the first of the Wunderhorn Symphonien in which the voices of the choir perform medieval lieders. A symphony that starts with death to come to resurrection: "I called Totenfeier (funeral) the first movement, and if you ask me, it is the hero of my Symphony in D major that I bear to bury," wrote Mahler to his friend Max Maschalk; the last movement of the symphony, however, is a grandiose choral by Klopstock entitled Die Auferstehung, Resurrection.

Program

Gustav Mahler
Symphony n. 2 in C minor, Die Auferstehung (Resurrezione)
I Allegro maestoso
II Andante moderato
III In ruhig fliessender Bewegung
IV Urlicht
V Im Tempo des Scherzos

Artists

Conductor
Daniele Gatti

Orchestra and Choir of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino

Soprano
Eleonora Buratto

Mezzosoprano
Sonia Ganassi

GUSTAV MAHLER

Born July 7, 1860 in Kaliště, Bohemia, at fifteen he entered the Vienna Conservatory, where he met Hugo Wolf and the elder Anton Bruckner. His first known composition is a piano quartet from 1876 which was followed by some lieder. In 1880 he began his career as a conductor, achieving huge public success when in 1887 he was called to Leipzig to replace Arthur Nikisch in the Ring des Nibelungen. His Symphony No. 1, first performed in Budapest in 1889, received a cold reception, but six years later in Berlin, his Symphony No. 2 was met with resounding success. Director of the Vienna State Opera from 1897 to 1907, in 1908 he made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York with Tristan und Isolde by Richard Wagner and was given the following year the musical direction of the New York Philharmonic. Upon his return to Vienna, he died on May 18, 1911 leaving his Symphony No.10 unfinished.

 

DANIELE GATTI

Born in Milan in 1961, here he graduated in conservatory Giuseppe Verdi. Among the many positions held are those of Chief Conductor of the Zurich Opera ( 2009-12 ), musical director of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna (1997-2007 ), and Principal Guest Conductor of the Royal Opera House in London ( 1994-97 ). It is among the few Italian directors invited to the Bayreuther Festspiele, where he inaugurated the 2008 edition with a new production of Parsifal. After Elektra in 2010, he returns to Salzburg Festival in 2012 to conduct La Bohème. In the same year, with the Wiener Philharmoniker, conducts the entire cycle of the Brahms symphonies in Vienna and in a European tour. He opened the season at the Teatro alla Scala in 2008 with Don Carlo and La Traviata in 2013 . Since 2008 he is Music Director of the Orchestre National de France and, since 2009 Conductor Laureate of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London, after having been their Music Director since 1996.