Mahler: Symphony No. 4 in G Major Minnesota Orchestra & Osmo Vänskä

• Gustav Mahler (1860 - 1911): Symphony No. 4 in G Major:
• 1 Symphony No. 4 in G Major: I. Bedächtig. Nicht eilen 17:01
• 2 Symphony No. 4 in G Major: II. In gemächlicher Bewegung. Ohne Hast 09:28
• 3 Symphony No. 4 in G Major: III. Ruhevoll, poco adagio 23:00
• 4 Symphony No. 4 in G Major: IV. Sehr behaglich 09:09
• Total Runtime 58:38

Info for Mahler: Symphony No. 4 in G Major

In Gustav Mahler's first four symphonies many of the themes originate in his own settings of folk poems from the collection Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Boy's Magic Horn). A case in point, Symphony No. 4 is built around a single song, Das himmlische Leben (The Heavenly Life) which Mahler had composed some eight years earlier, in 1892. The song presents a child's vision of Heaven and is hinted at throughout the first three movements. In the fourth, marked ‘Sehr behaglich’ (Very comfortably), the song is heard in full from a solo soprano instructed by Mahler to sing: ‘with serene, childlike expression; completely without parody. The symphony is scored for a typically large, late-romantic orchestra (though without trombones and tuba) and an extensive percussion section which includes sleigh bells as well as glockenspiel. However, Mahler mostly deploys his forces with a transparency and lightness more akin to chamber music or eighteenth-century models like Mozart or Haydn. The Fourth has become one of his best-loved symphonies, and is here performed by Minnesota Orchestra and Osmo Vänskä, joined by the angelic voice of English soprano Carolyn Sampson.

Carolyn Sampson, soprano
Minnesota Orchestra
Osmo Vänskä, conductor

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Booklet for Mahler: Symphony No. 4 in G Major