About this concert
Once again, our chief conductor designate Klaus Mäkelä is following in the footsteps of Gustav Mahler. Since Mahler first led the orchestra in his Symphony No. 5 in Amsterdam in 1906, we have performed the work 130 times. ‘Each movement has its friends and foes,’ Mahler once said. Yet the Adagietto, the symphony’s very lifeblood, seems to have only friends. According to Willem Mengelberg, the orchestra’s then chief conductor who maintained close contact with the composer, this movement was a pure declaration of love to Mahler’s wife Alma.
The Concertgebouw Orchestra also frequently collaborated with Richard Strauss. His ability to make magic with an orchestra was apparent early on: at the age of twenty-four, he made his breakthrough with his symphonic poem about the great seducer Don Juan.
The Adagietto, the symphony’s very lifeblood, seems to have only friends.
