What the BSO Told Me

Mahler, Symphony No. 3, A. S. von Otter, Vienna Philharmonic, P. Boulez (DG, 2003)

Charles T. Downey, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra finds its Mahler groove
Washington Post, February 2

Gustav Mahler may not have written any operas, but his longer symphonies approach, perhaps even surpass, opera in their metaphysical scope. The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s excellent performance of the composer’s Third Symphony, heard Saturday night at the Music Center at Strathmore, certainly had the feel of epic drama: funereal grief, ecstatic awakening, hushed birth of self-awareness and, finally, consummation.

Best of all, music director Marin Alsop has found her Mahler groove after her rocky first efforts... [Continue reading]

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With Jamie Barton, mezzo-soprano
Mahler, Third Symphony
Music Center at Strathmore

Alsop's Mahler:
No. 4 (2014) | No. 2 (2011) | No. 9 (2009) | No. 4 (2009) | No. 1 (2008) | No. 5 (2007)

Mahler 3:
Gustavo Dudamel (Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, 2013)| Iván Fischer (Munich Philharmonic, 2012)
Esa-Pekka Salonen (Dresden Staatskapelle, 2011) | Mariss Jansons (Royal Concertgebouw, 2010)
Mariss Jansons (Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, 2010) | Iván Fischer (NSO, 2008)
Claudio Abbado (Lucerne Festival, 2007) | James Conlon (Juilliard Orchestra, 2005)