Programme
Mahler : Symphony No 3
Part I
1 Kraftig. Entschieden
Part II
2 Tempo di menuetto. Sehr massig
3 Comodo. Scherzando. Ohne Hast
4 Sehr Langsam. Misterioso
5 Lustig im Tempo und keck im Ausdruck
6 Langsam. Ruhevoll. Empfunden

Performers
Florence Quivar (mezzo-soprano)
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Bernhard Haitink (conductor)

Tölzer Knabenchor
Ernst Senff Choir

Mahler's (1860-1911) symphonies include nine numbered ones, a tenth unfinished, and symphony-like song-cycles. His main job was as a busy conductor, though, and he wrote little else; among major composers he is probably the only one whose works list can be fitted onto a postcard, comprising barely twenty pieces in all. But what works! The symphonies are huge, all-encompassing musical dramas that play out themes of life, death, resurrection and so on, often with huge instrumental forces and a few solo singers too.

He finished the Third in 1896, though it wasn't premiered until 1902. As ever with Mahler, it contains some new concepts - here, using as a solo instrument a posthorn, an open trumpet-like instrument, sometimes long and straight, sometimes curled. This horn was a common instrument to signal the arrival or departure of mail coaches (and of course the horn is still the symbol for mail in continental Europe). In an early version of the score, Mahler calls for a flügelhorn but later editions call for a trumpet played like a posthorn. The opening big tune of eight horns in unison in the Third bears a remarkable similarity to a theme in last movement of Brahms's First.

The Third is a huge work - the last movement alone lasts 20 minutes, and the work as a whole lasts nearly two hours (a candidate for the longest regularly programmed concert classical work). Those familiar with Shostakovich's Fifth may see a simliarity between the codas of that work and this one.

This recording comes from 1992.