Wolfgang Fink, General Manager of the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra.

Read more about the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra’s
International Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition.

“Mahler pursues Schubert’s goals with Wagner’s techniques.”

Do you remember the first time you heard the music of Mahler?

Tilson Thomas: I remember very clearly the moment when Mahler’s music reached out and grabbed me, when I was 13 years old. I was waiting at the house of my parents’ friends for some reason or another, and they were very busy people and they said, “Would you like to listen to some music? For example, do you know Das Lied von der Erde by Mahler?”, which of course I did not. And they said, “Why don’t you listen to the last movement – it’s about 20 minutes long and your parents should be here by then”. And they put on this section, and really I divide my life between before I heard that recording – which was Ferrier and Walter – and after I heard it. The music made a stunning impression on me; it was as if it gave voice to all kinds of feelings that I had, that were part of my family, that were part of the whole connection that my family had to life in small villages in the Ukraine, and the presence of Jewish music – both secular and sacred music – in those villages, and the pull of those different cultures. But when this part [sings extract] came in, it went right into my heart. I could not believe that such symphonic music existed, and I never got over it.

(more…)

“Mahler is certainly the greatest symphonist ever.”

Do you remember the first time you heard the music of Gustav Mahler?

Eschenbach: In my childhood there was not very much Mahler in concerts in Germany, (more…)

“I could understand Wozzeck better when I knew Mahler.”

Mr Boulez, do you remember the first time you heard the music of Mahler?

Boulez: I don’t think I remember. Yes, I suppose I remember. In France it was not performed at all when I was young. First during the war of course, but even after the war there was a very big gap between the Austrian musical culture and the French musical culture. Therefore I think the first time I heard Mahler, that was in France anyway – but I mean it was the 4th Symphony, and I remember the Schellen [sleigh-bells] at the beginning, because it was so unusual to hear this kind of noise, to begin a symphony especially, that it was surprising. And I mean that it was Kletzki, it was not a French conductor who conducted it, it was Paul Kletzki.

(more…)

“With Mahler – you have to give yourself”

Do you remember when you heard the music of Mahler for the first time?

Nott: Yes. I came to Mahler through singing actually. I was eight, singing in England, in the Cathedral in Worcester, and it was Mahler’s 8th and I was in the Knabenchor. And I must have sung some of this piece three or four times in the time I was a boy. And then as far as I remember, the first part was great. I was eight years old, no problem, but the second part goes on and on … But we were still singing.

(more…)

“What Mahler did in Vienna is beyond human.”

Mr Welser-Möst, do you remember the first time you heard the music of Gustav Mahler?

Welser-Möst: Yes, I do. It was actually the Symphony No. 1 and must have been ten or eleven years old and it was the student orchestra of the Wiener Musikhochschule, at that time with Karl Österreicher. So that was quite some time ago.

(more…)

“For conductors Mahler seems to be to be the most personal composer”

Do you remember the first time you heard the music of Gustav Mahler?

Gatti: I began at nine, ten to study music. And of course the names of the composers who were familiar to me were Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, Rossini, Verdi – Mahler was totally unknown to me. Then I heard my father say ‘Mahler, Mahler – there is a symphony of Mahler on the radio’. And I said ‘But who is this composer?’. He said ‘It’s fantastic music, listen!’ I didn’t want to listen. Then, growing up, at twelve, thirteen, almost every evening he brought home a (very cheap) record. It was the whole repertoire, from Mozart to Stravinsky; he just wanted to introduce me to the orchestral sound. I remember he bought the 1st Symphony conducted by Bruno Walter, and so the first time I listened to the music of Mahler was with my father in our sitting room – at least 20 minutes of the 1st Symphony. And there I was, listening, without any particular emotion at that moment, but it was important that subconsciously I was absorbing his style.

(more…)

“I started to conduct Mahler out of spite.”

Mr Barenboim, do you remember the first time you heard the music of Gustav Mahler?

Barenboim: No. I remember playing the songs on the piano with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau – this must be in the early ‘70s – The Wunderhorn-Songs, Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, Rückertlieder – all, except the Kindertotenlieder, because they were not originally written as a piano version. And the first Mahler Symphony I conducted was the 5th, in 1973. But I came – in my biography, as it were – quite late to Mahler. I started very young, also conducting, but I was not really into it until quite late, until I was over 30.

(more…)