Monday Music Appreciation #18 -- A little Mahler, anyone?

My life has been busier than I like, which means I haven't been working at the Francis Winspear Centre for Music for all the concerts that I'd love to hear. That was the case on November 11th, when the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and the Calgary Philharmonic played together.

I spoke with a fellow usher a few days after the event, and she told me that having the two groups perform together was one of the most incredible concerts she'd ever heard, leaving the audience spellbound to the point that they sat in respectful silence for longer than usual at its conclusion. 

So I've been listening to Mahler's 3rd Symphony, and can imagine what the concert might have been like with twice as many musicians on our Winspear stage. Timpani drums always fascinate me, and this piece has them in the finale like I've never heard them before. Gustav Mahler loved romantic themes, and he certainly didn't hold back in his 3rd Symphony!

So here are the last six minutes of it for today's Monday Music Appreciation, performed by the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai (Torino, Italy) conducted by Maestro Giuseppe Sinopoli. Enjoy!