“When the New York Philharmonic plays Mahler, I enjoy this deep feeling of pathos”

The first question is always the same – if you remember the first time you heard the music of Gustav Mahler?

Gilbert: I couldn’t swear that it was the first time I heard his music, but my first memory of Mahler is very clear. I was nine years old and my parents decided that it was time for me to hear all the symphonies of Mahler. The New York Philharmonic was playing a Mahler festival in Carnegie Hall, I think it was in September or October of 1976. They bought me a ticket and I heard all the symphonies of Mahler. (more…)