Mahler - Sinfonie Nr. 7 | Ingo Metzmacher | WDR Sinfonieorchester

Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 7, performed by the WDR Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Ingo Metzmacher. Recorded live on September 27, 2025, at the Cologne Philharmonic Hall. Gustav Mahler - Symphony No. 7 in E minor 00:00:00 - I. Slow - Allegro 00:21:34 - II. Night Music. Allegro Moderato 00:37:23 - III. Scherzo. Shadow-like 00:46:50 - IV. Night Music. Andante Amoroso 00:59:16 - V. Finale. Rondo WDR Symphony Orchestra Ingo Metzmacher, conductor Click here for the interview with Ingo Metzmacher about Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 7:    • Metzmacher über Mahlers 7. Sinfonie | WDR ...   ► For more information about the symphony orchestra, concerts, and current livestreams, visit https://sinfonieorchester.wdr.de. ► The WDR Symphony Orchestra on Facebook/wdrsinfonieorchester Ingo Metzmacher talks about Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 7 and what makes this symphony so special to him:    • Metzmacher über Mahlers 7. Sinfonie | WDR ...   Introduction to the work: In 1900, Gustav Mahler had a small cottage built above Lake Wörthersee, in the middle of the forest. Surrounded by nature, disconnected from the hustle and bustle of his life as a conductor, it was the ideal place for him to compose. Here, in Maiernigg, he completed his Fourth Symphony and wrote his Fifth and Sixth in the following years. And in the summer of 1905, he returned to this idyllic setting – to, as he later wrote to his wife Alma, “finish the Seventh (both Andantes of which were there)”. But the hoped-for inspiration failed to materialize: "For two weeks I tormented myself to the point of melancholy [...] – until I escaped to the Dolomites! There it was the same dance, and finally I gave up and went home [...]. In Krumpendorf [...] I got into the boat to be ferried across. With the first stroke of the oar, the theme (or rather the rhythm and style) of the introduction to the first movement came to me – and in four weeks the first, third, and fifth movements were finished!" Mahler's Seventh is considered the one of his symphonies that stands most strongly on its own without extra-musical references. The composer had initially formulated specific programs for his early symphonies. Increasingly, he refrained from such references. His intention was for the music itself to take center stage. And yet, in the Seventh, Mahler hints at the ideas that have flowed into the work. There are, for example, the two movements he refers to as “Andantes.” The second is actually an “Andante amoroso,” while the first begins in “Allegro moderato.” Both are titled ‘Nachtmusik’ (night music). Mahler's reading experiences with Jean Paul's fantasy literature are evident here. The composer complements this nocturnal mood with the ghostly scherzo titled “Schattenhaft” (shadowy). The first movement is one of his large-scale concepts that lead “per aspera ad astra”: from shadow to light. The finale, finally, positively glitters with joy – so exuberant that the mood sometimes seems to turn into biting sarcasm. Text: Otto Hagedorn