This fall the New England Conservatory in Boston is embarking on a semester-long festival marking the centennial of Gustav Mahler’s death (May 18, 1911). The festival, curated by Katarina Markovic, chair of NEC’s Music History department, will open on September 26 with Director of Orchestras Hugh Wolff leading the NEC Philharmonia in the original version of Mahler’s First Symphony, with instrumental parts generated from microfilm of the manuscript. Among other works to be performed by various NEC ensembles are Totenfeier, Mahler’s first orchestral work, later reworked as the first movement of the Second Symphony; Symphony No. 3; the Suite for Orchestra (after suites by J.S. Bach); jazz arrangements of Mahler themes; Schubert’s “Death and the Maiden” Quartet, arranged by Mahler; works by Mahler disciples and composers banned by the Nazi regime, including Schreker, Berio, Webern, and Berg; and excerpts from Schoenberg’s transcription of Das Lied von der Erde. Mahler expert Gilbert Kaplan will deliver an hourlong pre-concert lecture on September 26, and Markovic will give a pre-concert lecture about Des Knaben Wunderhorn on November 9, just before the NEC Symphony’s concert featuring Mahler’s Symphony No. 4. More information on the festival is available at http://www.necmusic.edu/mahler.
Posted August 4, 2011
