Some of the things on Mahler’s mind as he named the scenes
- Summer marches in
- What the meadow flowers tell us
- What the creatures of the forest tell us
- What night tells me
- What the morning bells say
- What love tells us
In 5, what the bells say, we have the story of St. Peter’s distress and Christ’s forgiveness
This is Mahler’s longest symphony. Approx 100 mins divvied into six movements. Simone Young AM was our conductor and it opened the 2025 Sydney Symphony Orchestral year .
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)
Symphony No. 3 in D minor (1896)
the clear alpine air, and rousing
springfulness I feel even before
i arrive at the Opera House, so excited
to experience Mahler’s 3rd symphony.
Lights dim, the buzz stills
and from a quaver rest of silence
eight French Hornsin fortissimo
wake us from our slumber.
In the beginning was the sound
it rouses a universe into being
vibrates the hall with wonder
It stirs like a giant turtle shimming
after a long sleep, heavy with its shell
slow to move as the music sinks
into the struggles of journey.
We are there present on cello strings.
Mahler wanted his symphony
to be like the world, for it to embrace
everything; a star map of music
to comprehend creation in all
its magnificence. Its constellations,
celestial spheres, ferns and trees,
flowers, birds and a distant flugelhorn
off stage a triumphant sound of human life.
Choirs of angels light up our faces
and the soloist sings Nietzsche poem
from Thus spake Zarathustra
O Soulful one take heed, take heed
Every desire yearns for eternity
and with a tender ecstasy of human feeling
on the breath of oboes and clarinets
a slow movement beatifies the one
striving to find oneness with nature
evolving of humanity to divinity .
Our guest speaker before the concert
reminded us: let go of thinking
comprehending, let your eyes gaze over
allow the music to burst beyond
the horizons. just be immersed
not trying to understand.