Afternoon on 3 - Mahler - Mahler and Nature - Part 1

Presented by Penny Gore. Mahler and Nature. Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Youth's Magic Horn) is a collection of German folk poetry made in the early nineteenth century, and was a key source of inspiration for Mahler throughout his life, touching on the poems' themes of Nature and Boyhood Wonder, recalling Mahler's own childhood in Bohemia and his own ideas of Nature set against the sophisicated industrial and intellectual background of Hapsburg Vienna. Today Anne Sophie von Otter, Hakan Hagegard and Thomas Hampson sing some of Mahler's settings of poems from Das Knaben Wunderhorn, with the Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Claudio Abbado and Riccardo Chailly. Interspersed with other "Nature" related pieces - Beethoven's "Pastoral" symphony with it's musical thunderstorm, and Dvorak's 8th Symphony - his sunny evocation of the Bohemian countryside - both performed by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. 2.00pm Weber: Overture to Der Freischutz BBC Symphony Orchestra Michal Dworzynski, conductor 2.10pm Mahler: Selection from Des Knaben Wunderhorn Anne Sophie von Otter, mezzo soprano Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Claudio Abbado, conductor 2.30pm Beethoven: Symphony No.6 in F (Op.68) "Pastoral" BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra Ilan Volkov, conductor 3.30pm Dvorak: Symphony No.8 in G (Op.88) BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra Garry Walker, conductor 4.25pm Mahler: Selection from Des Knaben Wunderhorn Hakan Hagegard, baritone Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Riccardo Chailly, conductor.