Jakub Hrůša conducts Mahler 7

Programme

The Philharmonia’s 80th anniversary season would not be complete without Mahler’s epic, all-encompassing symphonies.  

Acclaimed as ‘London’s Mahlerian orchestra par excellence’ (Bachtrack), the Philharmonia has given many memorable performances of Mahler’s symphonies over its eight decades. The most recent was hailed as ‘the collective performance of a lifetime’ (The Guardian).  

Now the orchestra turns to Mahler’s Seventh, nicknamed ‘Song of the Night’.  Characteristically, Mahler’s sonic references stretch far beyond the concert hall – mysterious horn calls, the sound of a marching band, birdsong, folk dances, cowbells, parodies of a Viennese waltz and a Wagnerian opera, and even a serenading mandolin all rub shoulders in this exuberant fantasy of a symphony.  

Like the Philharmonia, conductor Jakub Hrůša has spent many years getting under the skin of Mahler’s music. Even listening to records as a boy, he remembers being attracted by Mahler’s “will, or courage, to embrace all possible worlds of sound, meanings and genres, as if each symphony was a universe… everyone can find a link to Mahler.”