Mahler: Symphony No. 9 in D Major Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks & Mariss Jansons

• Gustav Mahler (1860 - 1911): Symphony No. 9 in D Major:
• 1 I. Andante comodo 28:01
• 2 II. Im Tempo eines gemachlichen Landlers - Etwas tappisch und sehr derb 15:45
• 3 III. Rondo-Burleske: Allegro assai 13:48
• 4 IV. Adagio - Sehr langsam und noch zuruckhaltend 23:11
• Total Runtime 01:20:45

Info for Mahler: Symphony No. 9 in D Major

Gustav Mahler's Ninth Symphony is primarily regarded as the composer’s reaction in the summer of 1908 to the diagnosis of a heart ailment, which he received just before writing the first sketches for the work. Mahler was deeply distraught and cannot have known how few years he still had left to live. His processing and exploration of his life experiences, and of valedictions, the meaning of life, death, salvation, life after death and love, always took place in and through his music. The Ninth Symphony was composed between 1909 and 1910 in Toblach, in a kind of creative frenzy, and was first performed in Vienna on June 26, 1912 by the Vienna Philharmonic, under the baton of Bruno Walter. Mahler had already died on May 18, 1911, and was no longer able to experience the premiere of his last completed work. Willem Mengelberg, the first ardent conductor of the composer’s works, wrote in his score: "Mahler's soul sings its farewell!" Mahler's Ninth Symphony represents the culmination of a development process. The progressive chromaticism and maximum utilization of the tonal are here taken to their limits - and, for the first time, beyond them. Indeed, the two movements that frame the work, in particular, depart from the tonal entirely, pointing clearly to the dawn of a new musical epoch. Alban Berg even called this symphony "the first work of New Music". The Munich concert event of October 2016 is now being released on CD by BR-KLASSIK – it is an outstanding interpretation of one of the most important compositions of the international symphonic repertoire of the early 20th century.

„…there's a feeling of urgency about this new performance that I don't remember in Haitink's Mahler before, as if he is now almost impatient with the Ninth's resigned acceptance of mortality. There's an angularity about the woodwind lines and a rawness to the textures from what is one of Europe's finest orchestras that seems to expose the music's nerve ends…“ (Andrew Clements, The Guardian)

„The pacing of the first movement's peaks and troughs remains a wonder and the cultured, humane adaptability of the Bavarian Radio Symphony strings provides a special benchmark of quality.“ (David Nice, BBC Music Magazine)

Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks
Bernard Haitink, conductor

Mariss Jansons
son of conductor Arvıds Jansons, was born in Riga in 1943. He studied violin, piano, and conducting at the Leningrad Conservatory, completing his education as a student of Hans Swarowsky in Vienna and of Herbert von Karajan in Salzburg. In 1971 he became a laureate of the Karajan Competition in Berlin and began his close partnership with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, first as an assistant to Yevgeny Mravinsky and then as a permanent conductor. From 1979 to 2000 Jansons served as Music Director of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. Under his tenure, the orchestra earned international acclaim and undertook tours to leading concert halls around the world. Between 1997 and 2004 he was Principal Conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and in the 2003–2004 season he took over leadership of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, where he is extending his contract until 202; he began his tenure as head of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in the 2004–2005 season, and ended it in 2015. Jansons is guest conductor of the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestras (in Vienna in 2016 he will be conducting the New Year’s concerts for a third time); he has additionally conducted the leading orchestras in the U.S. and Europe. His discography comprises many prizewinning recordings, including a Grammy for his account of Shostakovich’s 13th Symphony. Mariss Jansons is an honorary member of the Society of Friends of Music in Vienna and of the Royal Academy of Music in London; the Berlin Philharmonic has honoured him with the Hans-von-Bülow Medal, the City of Vienna with the Golden Medal of Honour, and the State of Austria with the Honorary Cross for Science and Arts. In 2006 Cannes MIDEM named him Artist of the Year, and he received the ECHO Klassik Award in 2007 and 2008. In June 2013, for his life’s work as a conductor, he was awarded the prestigious Ernst von Siemens Music Prize, and on 4 October 2013, he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit 1st Class by German Federal President Joachim Gauck in Berlin. In France in 2015, the Ministry of Culture named Mariss Jansons “Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres“.

Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks
Not long after it was established in 1949, the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks (Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra) developed into an internationally renowned orchestra. The performance of new music enjoys an especially long tradition, and right from the be- ginning, appearances in the musica viva series, created by composer Karl Amadeus Hartmann in 1945, have ranked among the orchestra’s core activities. On extensive concert tours to virtually every country in Europe, to Asia as well as to North and South America, the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks continually con rms its position in the first rank of top international orchestras. The history of the Symphonieorchester is closely linked with the names of its previous Chief Conductors: Eugen Jochum (1949–1960), Rafael Kubelík (1961– 1979), Sir Colin Davis (1983– 1992) and Lorin Maazel (1993–2002). In 2003, Mariss Jansons assumed his post as new Chief Conductor. With a number of CD releases, among others a series of live recordings of concerts in Munich, Mariss Jansons continues the orchestra’s extensive discography. Maestro Jansons, the Chor and Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks were honoured for their recording of the 13th Symphony of Shostakovich when they were awarded a Grammy in February of 2006 in the “Best Orchestral Performance” category. In December, 2008, a survey conducted by the British music magazine Gramophone listed the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks among the ten best orchestras in the world. In 2010, Mariss Jansons and the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks received an ECHO Klassik Award in the category “Orchestra/Ensemble of the Year” for their recording of Bruckner’s 7th Symphony on BR-KLASSIK. The complete Beethoven symphonies, performed by the Symphonieorchester under Mariss Jansons in Tokyo in the autumn of 2012, were voted by the Music Pen Club Japan – the organisation of Japanese music journalists – as the best concerts by foreign artists in Japan in 2012.

Booklet for Mahler: Symphony No. 9 in D Major