Mahler: Symphony No. 10 in F-Sharp Major "Unfinished" (Completed by D. Cooke)

Featuring

Osmo Vänskä
Minnesota Orchestra
Gustav Mahler

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Compositional Technique

The third movement, 'Purgatorio', contains Mahler's handwritten annotations like 'Erbarmen!' (Have mercy) and 'O Gott! O Gott! Warum hast du mich verlassen?' (O God! O God! Why have you forsaken me?).

Composition History

Deryck Cooke, a British musicologist and BBC broadcaster, created a 'Performing Version of the Draft for the Tenth Symphony' in 1976, revised in 1989, which is used for this recording.

Performer Biography

Osmo Vänskä, the conductor, has been the music director of the Minnesota Orchestra since 2003 and has received multiple Grammy nominations and awards for his recordings.

Compositional Technique

The symphony features a cataclysmic nine-note dissonant chord that appears towards the end of the first and last movements, possibly reflecting Mahler's personal trauma.

Composition History

Mahler's Symphony No. 10 was left unfinished at his death in 1911, leading to ethical questions about its performance.

Composition History

Alma Mahler, the composer's wife, initially published the manuscripts of the Tenth Symphony in facsimile form in the early 1920s.

Composer Biography

While working on the symphony in 1910, Mahler discovered his wife Alma was having an affair with architect Walter Gropius, a profound emotional blow that impacted the work.