“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.

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Endless Mahler
Alex Ross in the New Yorker

It’s a Wrap! Mahler Marathon Finishes Glowingly
Anthony Tommasini in the New York Times

Mahler Symphonies at High Heat but Contrasting Temperatures
James R. Oestreich in the New York Times

Noch ein letztes Mal fortissimo!
Julia Spinola in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung