Hartmut Haenchen and the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra with Bruckner 6

Hartmut Haenchen conducts Bruckner's Sixth

Haenchen concludes his special series of Bruckner's middle three symphonies. Haenchen's interpretations of Bruckner have received rave reviews. The NRC newspaper, for example, called Haenchen's Bruckner “ intoxicatingly beautiful ”. Bruckner's Sixth is contemplative, almost philosophical in nature, and is considered an ode to his predecessor Wagner.

Mahler's Kindertotenlieder

Mahler deeply admired Bruckner and, as a conductor, actively sought to perform his symphonies and make them more accessible to a wider audience. With the Kindertotenlieder , Gustav Mahler composed five extremely poignant songs in which he confronted his own mortality,

with music in which grief and loss go hand in hand with comfort and acceptance. In Mahler's youth, six of his fourteen brothers and sisters died. That loss had an enormous influence on his composing, which is palpable in the Kindertotenlieder. Despite, or perhaps because of, the heavy subject matter, the music is comforting and wonderfully beautiful.

This programme can be heard on 26 February at PHIL Haarlem and on 27 and 28 February at the Concertgebouw.