Iván Fischer about Mahler’s Third Symphony (11 min.)

Iván Fischer is a regular guest of the Berliner Philharmoniker. In January 2016, he conducted a work by Gustav Mahler with the orchestra for the first time: The Third Symphony, in which Mahler captivatingly gives musical expression to flowers, birds, landscapes and seasons. This magnificent panorama – which is among the composer’s most monumental works – also includes a mezzo-soprano singing words from Nietzsche’s Thus spoke Zarathustra and a female and a boys choir. In this introduction, Fischer presents the programme of the symphony and explains why the “eclecticism” of this music – that is, the mixture of different styles – is still relevant to us today.