Wed, Dec 3, 2025
Andris Nelsons is back with us for Mahler’s Fourth on 17, 19 and 21 December. The soprano Christiane Karg is the soloist for Das himmlische Leben in the last movement. The latest Preludium contains an interview with Karg about her career, her collaboration with the Concertgebouw Orchestra and Gustav Mahler's Fourth Symphony. “The Fourth is humorous and yet tragic at the same time”.
The German soprano Christiane Karg has sung Mahler's Fourth Symphony countless times. Does she already know how the performances with the Concertgebouw Orchestra and conductor Andris Nelsons will go?
“No, never. Every concert is different. I don’t even know yet where I'll be standing. It's wonderful to stand next to the harp or with the cello section for this movement, I'm curious to see what Andris has in mind. I always prefer to be on stage for the whole of the movement before mine; I need time to connect with what’s happening around me, to get myself ready for that one moment of concentration when I’ll stand up and sing.”
“This movement has something childlike about it, but it’s written in a low register. This happens a lot with Mahler, he balances between extremes. The Fourth is both humorous and tragic – and at the same time. There’s humour in it and enormous depth as well. It’s not an aria or a song, it’s a story. The words come first for me, and as a singer you have to immerse yourself in them completely. In Das himmlische Leben I’m a storyteller and I want to describe its heaven as colourfully as possible; just imagine it’s a painting with amazing colours.”
“The Concertgebouw Orchestra has a uniquely warm sound; I feel the musicians’ generosity whenever I sing with them. And they have a fantastic Mahler tradition, of course.” Is there a specific sound for Mahler for you? "A natural one. Gustav Mahler was a nature lover; for me, the Mahler sound is personal, direct, simple and generous."
Read the full interview with Christiane Karg in Preludium (in Dutch only) >