Repertoire

Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 7 in E minor (1904-05) 77′

ARTISTS

Barcelona Symphony Orchestra (OBC
Matthias Pintscher, conductor

Programme

Today, Gustav Mahler is an essential composer for music lovers, but history shows us that things are not always as they seem. Or rather, they are more complex.

Mahler was conductor of the Vienna Opera, one of the world’s most important opera houses. Aiming to improve performances, he relentlessly pushed all the parties involved – from singers and instrumentalists to stage hands – and only in summer, when he had free time, did he devote himself to composition.

Growing anti-Semitism led to serious attacks on his work at the helm of the Viennese theatre. Consequently, the premiere of his extraordinary Seventh Symphony, a true journey from darkness into light, took place in Prague. Eventually, the Third Reich not only cut short his career in Austria but also banned his music, condemning it to oblivion, from which it only began to recover after World War II.