Mahler’s Ninth with the LUCERNE FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA Is Now on DVD

Whoever was present for that summer evening in August 2010 will never be able to forget the experience: Claudio Abbado and his LUCERNE FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA performed Gustav Mahler’s Ninth Symphony, the composer’s harrowing swan song and farewell to the beauties of the world, which at the same time seems to hint at another life, a higher truth.

Critic Peter Hagmann described the event in the “Neue Zürcher Zeitung” as follows: “What silence: it seemed to last for minutes, for an eternity, undisturbed by any sound, as the audience of 2000 people sat still in this cathedral of music into which the KKL had been transformed. Only Claudio Abbado, and he alone, could achieve this: an experience so undeniable and compelling. The Adagio finale of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 reached its consummation here. It completed the very process of evaporating into silence which is enacted by the first violins on high and the basses in the deepest depths: they play a quadruple pianissimo that must sound as if the music is “dying” away. To be sure, the silence on this memorable Lucerne Festival evening was also a moment for introspection or for the conductor to express his humility in the face of the greatness of such a work of art, which the public was invited to share. Not least of all, it likely signaled a protest against the noise of ordinary life, against the brutalization of our sense of hearing, and against the dullness of the commercially driven music that is constantly drummed into our ears.”

This impressive performance is now available on DVD from Accentus Music and can be found in stores or, even more conveniently, can be ordered online from our LUCERNE FESTIVAL Shop.