Mahler’s “farewell to the world” caps the career of one of history’s most emotive and daring composers in a work brimming with blistering intensity, paralyzing terror, and tender nostalgia in equal measure before its trademark finale gradually gives way to calm repose. Never one to shy away from a grand musical endeavor, Andrew Litton has longed to take on Mahler’s Ninth since his days as Music Director here in Colorado. During the genesis of the work, an ever-superstitious Mahler was keenly aware of the deaths of Beethoven, Schubert, and Anton Bruckner, all taken shortly after the completion of their respective ninth symphonies. He even went so far as to compose a “Tenth Symphony,” Das Lied von der Erde, after his eighth in an effort to creatively avoid the same fate. In the end, Mahler too would succumb before he could hear a performance of this incredible meditation on mortality. Whether or not you believe in the “Curse of the Ninth,” these performances will leave you with a deep sense of profundity and peace.
