Mahler: Symphony No. 4 in G Major & Piano Quartet in A Minor

Featuring

Gustavo Gimeno
Miah Persson
Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg
Gustav Mahler

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Performer Biography

Gustavo Gimeno, the conductor on this album, began his international conducting career as an assistant to Mariss Jansons, Bernard Haitink, and Claudio Abbado.

Compositional Technique

Mahler's Fourth Symphony subverts the traditional symphonic structure by ending with a folk-inspired song for soprano and orchestra, rather than a monumental choral finale.

Composition History

Gustav Mahler completed much of his Fourth Symphony in the summers of 1899 and 1900, with the fair copy finished in early 1901.

Composer Biography

Mahler's Piano Quartet in A minor, arranged for orchestra on this album by Colin Matthews, is Mahler's only surviving chamber music composition.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Mahler described the Fourth Symphony as an "image on a gold ground," comparing its overall mood to an undifferentiated heavenly blue.

Compositional Technique

Mahler's Fourth Symphony features a solo violin playing 'scordatura' in the second movement, meaning its strings are tuned a whole tone higher to imitate a coarser sound.