MahlerFest presents the Alpine Symphony by Strauss

Mahler and Strauss were were a bit like Abbott and Castello, Mozart and Hayden, or Ali and Foreman. They were mirrors which reflected each other and rivals who encouraged one another. Their greatness and their achievement is, in part, measured against the other. They both went out of their way to champion each other’s works. Strauss helped facilitate the first performance of Mahler’s second symphony. This was the most difficult project of Mahler’s life to get off the ground and it would not have happened without Strauss’s help. Mahler conducted the premieres of Strauss operas and tone poems, exporting that repertoire throughout the world.

When Mahler died in 1911, Strauss began working in earnest on An Alpine Symphony. This work became his memorial to Mahler. The simple story of the climber who ascends and descends is much more than simply a pictorial description of a day’s hike. It is a metaphor about life and death. It is a wonderful evocation of a friend, of the struggle we all face in life, of that feeling of what it takes to get to a summative life, and that terrible feeling of knowing once you’re there that you can’t stay. Eventually, we all have to descend back into the darkness.

Kenneth Woods, conductor

MahlerFest Orchestra

SCHUBERT arr. MAHLER | String Quartet No. 14 in D minor, “Death and the Maiden”

STRAUSS | An Alpine Symphony

Nick Pfefferkorn will give a pre-concert discussion at 6:30 PM.

Host or Publisher Colorado MahlerFest