Mahler, Gustav - Symphony No. 9 - Rattle, Simon

The performances given by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra at the Isarphilharmonie on November 26 and 27, 2021, marked the beginning of a new chapter in the orchestra's interpretation of Mahler: with its new chief conductor Simon Rattle, the orchestra is now led by a Mahler admirer who is just as passionate as his predecessors Jansons, Maazel, and Kubelík. The musicians dedicated the charity concert on November 26 to the memory of Bernard Haitink, the renowned conductor who worked with the orchestra for 61 years and passed away in October 2021. The very long silence after the final chord was one of those "goosebump-inducing moments" that make people go to concerts – and that are the original reason for making music. Gustav Mahler's Ninth Symphony in particular is understood as the composer's reaction to the heart disease he was diagnosed with shortly before writing the first drafts in the summer of 1908. He was in deep despair, but probably still unaware of how few years he actually had left to live. Mahler always sought to use music to explore his life experiences and themes such as farewells, the meaning of existence, death, redemption, life after death, and love. He composed his Ninth Symphony in Dobbiaco in a kind of creative frenzy between 1909 and 1910. It premiered in Vienna on June 26, 1912, when the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra performed the work under the baton of Bruno Walter. Mahler did not live to see the premiere of his last completed work – he had already died on May 18, 1911.