Mahlers Fünfte

Gustav Mahler
Symphony No. 5 C sharp minor (1901–1903)

Gürzenich-Orchester Köln
François-Xavier Roth conductor

The concert reviewer on behalf of Neue Musikzeitung experienced »an overwhelming richness of beauties« when attending the premiere performance of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony in Cologne, conducted by the composer himself and played by the Gürzenich Orchestra. With this symphony, Mahler once again exceeds the dimensions of the customary in a scarcely describable emotional complexity ranging from a funeral march and a ländler (a folk dance in ¾ meter) to a brass band and ravishing impressionist sonorities. Mahler caught some of his contemporaries unprepared with his tonal language, and the composer also swore about this once himself, saying »The Fifth is a cursed work. Nobody understands it.«

Recorded on February 12, 2019 at Cologne Philharmonie