Mahler Symphony No. 5

Ardross Community Hall, Nairn Community and Arts Centre and Inverness Cathedral.

The Mahler Players return with their most ambitious concert programme yet. Mahler’s mighty 5th Symphony, one of the crowning glories of the symphonic repertoire, is presented here in a 2014 chamber arrangement for 23 players by the German pianist and conductor Klaus Simon. It includes the moving Adagietto, which was memorably featured in the film Death in Venice. In its journey from the tragedy of the opening funeral march to the triumph of the finale, it wholly fulfills Mahler’s conviction that a Symphony “must be like the world: it must embrace everything”.

Also on the programme is a short and haunting work, Mémoriale, to mark the 90th birthday year of the great composer-conductor Pierre Boulez. It will feature flautist Catherine O’Rourke who will also perform Debussy’s unaccompanied Syrinx to begin the concert. The Mahler Players are also delighted to be giving the world premiere of a new commission by composer Andy Evans, Variations on a Theme of Hildegard of Bingen.

These concerts were supported by the National Lottery through Creative Scotland, Scott-Moncrieff Business Advisers and Acccountants, the Hugh Fraser Foundation and the Highland Council.