Gustav Mahler considered his Symphony No. 5 an "accursed work" and struggled significantly with its final form, revising it multiple times over nearly a decade.
Performer Biography
Mariss Jansons, the conductor on this recording, was born in Riga in 1943, the son of conductor Arvīds Jansons, and studied violin, piano, and conducting.
Composition History
The profound stylistic change in Mahler's Fifth Symphony may have been influenced by his intensive study of Bach's music in 1901, rather than a personal crisis.
Composition History
The Adagietto, the fourth movement of the symphony, was a wordless declaration of love from Mahler to Alma Schindler, who later became his wife.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Mahler believed that a symphony should "build a world with all the resources of the available techniques," creating a self-contained cosmos of human experience.
Compositional Technique
Mahler's Symphony No. 5 marked a significant stylistic shift, featuring unprecedented polyphonic writing and a new emphasis on brass instruments, which he felt required a "totally new technique."
Recording & Production
The Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, led by Mariss Jansons, received a Grammy Award in 2006 for their recording of Shostakovich's 13th Symphony.
