Author Archives: John

Gewandhaus Orchestra, MDR Radio Choir, Leipzig Opera Chorus, St. Thomas Choir Leipzig, Gewandhaus Choir, Gewandhaus Children’s Choir, Andris Nelsons conductor, Emily Magee soprano (Magna Peccatrix), Jacquelyn Wagner soprano (Una poenitentium), Ying Fang soprano (Mater gloriosa), Lioba Braun mezzo-soprano (Mulier Samaritana), Gerhild Romberger mezzo-soprano (Maria Aegyptiaca), Benjamin Bruns tenor (Doctor Marianus), Adrian Eröd baritone (Pater ecstaticus),Continue reading “Mahler 8, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Leipzig Mahler Festival 26/5/23”

Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, Ladies of the Saxon State Opera Choir Dresden, Children’s Choir of the Semperoper Dresden, Christian Thielemann conductor, Christa Mayer alto: Gustav Mahler — Symphony No. 3 I went to an interesting talk in the afternoon, in the auditorium of the Mendelssohn house, near the Gewandhaus, about Mahler 3, and a Leipzig philosopherContinue reading “Mahler 3, Dresden Staatskapelle, Leipzig Mahler Festival 25/5/23”

Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra,  Daniele Gatti, Conductor.  Gustav Mahler: Adagio from Symphony No 10; Symphony No 1 I spent the earlier part of the day at Wittenberg – or rather Lutherstadt Wittenberg. I went to the Lutherhaus, and the Schloss church, where Luther is buried. The museum at the Lutherhaus is very fine and thoroughlyContinue reading “Mahler 1, Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, Leipzig Mahler Festival 24/5/23”

Budapest Festival Orchestra, Iván Fischer conductor: Gustav Mahler — Symphony No. 9 I spent an agreeable 3 hours going to some Leipzig museums – first of all the contemporary history forum, which is about the history of the DDR (and very informative, with all signs in condensed form in English) and then, at the Town Museum,Continue reading “Mahler 9, BFO, Leipzig Mahler Festival 23/5/23”

Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Daniel Harding: Gustav Mahler – Symphony No 7 I spent the earlier part of the day in Eisenach, about an hour’s train ride from Leipzig, the birthplace of Bach with a fine Bach Museum, rather better than its cramped Leipzig equivalent, and including an hourly concert for 20 minutes of extractsContinue reading “Mahler 7, BRSO, Leipzig Mahler Festival 22/5/23”

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, conductor Robert Trevino : Gustav Mahler — Symphony No. 10 (arrangement by Deryck Cooke) Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla was meant to be the conductor for this concert but she pulled out a week before the event – as she had been conducting in Rome a few days earlier on May 13 andContinue reading “Mahler 10, CBSO, Leipzig Mahler Festival 21/5/23 8pm”

Organist: Michael Schönheit: Johann Sebastian Bach — Fantasia and Fugue in G minor BWV 542 (in the version by Karl Straube); Franz Schmidt — Chorale Prelude “Nun danket alle Gott”; Max Reger — Introduction and Passacaglia in D minor WoO IV/6; Franz Schmidt — Lento – Interlude I from the oratorio “The Book with SevenContinue reading “Gustav Mahler’s Contemporaries: Organ concert, St Thomas’ Church; Leipzig Mahler Festival 21/5/23 3pm”

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Myung-Whun Chung Conductor: Gustav Mahler — Symphony No. 5 It’s nearly two years since I last heard this work live – a moving occasion at the Proms in 2021 when a scratch orchestra of all the freelance musicians who had been out of work for the past 18 months, because of Covid,Continue reading “Mahler 5, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Amsterdam), Leipzig Mahler Festival 20/5/23 8pm”

Frank-Michael Erben violin, Anton Jivaev viola, Valentino Worlitzsch cello, Yulianna Avdeeva piano: Gustav Mahler — Quartet for Piano, Violin, Viola and Cello in A minor; Alfred Schnittke — Quartet for Piano, Violin, Viola and Cello in A minor; Johannes Brahms — Quartet No. 1 for piano, violin, viola and cello in G minor op. 25Continue reading “Chamber music: works by Mahler, Schnittke and Brahms; Leipzig Mahler Festival 20/5/23 3pm”

Munich Philharmonic, Tugan Sokhiev conductor, Christiane Karg soprano, Ekaterina Gubanova alto, Andreas Schager tenor: Gustav Mahler — Symphony No. 4 in G major; Gustav Mahler — Das Lied von der Erde Before the evening concert, I did a couple of things: When I bought my tickets, in October 2021, the evening concert was due toContinue reading “Mahler 4 / Das Lied von der Erde, Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, Leipzig Mahler Festival 19/5/23”