Abbado conducts Mahler & Prokofiev!
Sergey Prokofiev was 20 years old when Gustav Mahler died in 1911. As such, it is likely that Prokofiev may well have been aware of what Gustav Mahler was accomplishing on the musical scene in Central Europe and in the US. As such, it is not only interesting but also quite appropriate to place the music of these two composers on the same program.
This DVD was recorded live at the Concert Hall of the Culture and Convention Centre in Lucerne, Switzerland, on the 12th of August 2009.
Mahler:
Symphony No. 1 in D major ‘Titan’
Prokofiev:
Piano Concerto No. 3 in C major, Op. 26
Performed by Yuja Wang, piano, and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Claudio Abbado, conductor.
The opening of this concert gives us an opportunity to experience the spectacular début of the twenty-two-year-old pianist Yuja Wang playing Sergei Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto. In her Lucerne appearances she displayed the full range of her artistry as Prokofiev’s composition demands not only lyricism and intimacy but also a lot of brilliance and strong virtuosity of pianistic skills.
Mahler, in his First Symphony, created his musical vision of an entire human life in four stages – from a spring-like upsurge of feelings through desire and suffering, to the end of earthly existence and the entrance into Paradise.
Claudio Abbado is undeniably an amazing Mahler conductor, and his recordings with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra – symphonies No. 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 and 9 – have already set new standards in interpretation of works by Gustav Mahler.
Here’s a brief extract of the two masterpieces on this DVD. Yea… Frustrating that these are so brief!
And for those of you who are interested here is Leonard Bernstein doing the same Mahler 1 in 1975, with the Vienna Philharmonic. It is a study in different interpretations:
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Tags: Mahler Symphony #1, Prokofiev Piano concert #3, Yuja Wang, Lucerne Orchestra, Abb