BSO 2016/17 Season - Concert Previews

The Mahler Fifth Symphony is the first of three Symphonies by Mahler that are strictly instrumental, no choruses or soloists, which constitute the composer's so-called "middle period." Brian Bell describes how Mahler decided to take a break with the past with the Symphony No. 5.

John Harbison's music has garnered quite a following in recent years, but rarely has his work been analyzed or described with any depth. His musical voice is distinctive, and not easy to pigeonhole as "it sounds like so-and-so". Brian Bell has been a fan of John Harbison's music for nearly 30 years, and in 2003 he grabbed the opportunity to speak with the composer about his craft, and his Third Symphony.

Watch the biography of John Harbison from the BSO's Classical Companion!

Watch the biography of Gustav Mahler from the BSO's Classical Companion!

Listen to the Concert Preview! Performances of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 5 continue James Levine and the BSO's Mahler anniversary season. Mahler composed the instrumental Fifth in the summers of 1901 and 1902, and is famous for its beautiful Adagietto movement. Levine and the orchestra also begin a cycle of symphonies, continuing this season and next, by the eminent American composer John Harbison. Two of Harbison's five symphonies were commissioned by the BSO, and his Sixth, another BSO commission, will be premiered next season. The Third, from 1991, is a vigorous five-movement work with Italianate sensibilities, including a musical allusion to a Genoese carillon.

Watch the Video Preview! Mahler's Symphony No. 2, cast in five movements, is a monumental work that addresses equally weighty subjects: life, suffering, death, and the uncertainty of what comes after. Like Beethoven before him, Mahler uses sung text in his symphony to directly explore some of these ideas. Completed in 1894, the Symphony No. 2 is the first of three consecutive symphonies to contain vocal elements with text taken from "Des Knaben Wunderhorn" (The Youth's Magic Horn), a collection of German folk poems that was a popular source of inspiration for musicians and artists throughout the 19th century.

Listen to the Concert Preview! Mahler's Symphony No. 2, cast in five movements, is a monumental work that addresses equally weighty subjects: life, suffering, death, and the uncertainty of what comes after. Like Beethoven before him, Mahler uses sung text in his symphony to directly explore some of these ideas. Completed in 1894, the Symphony No. 2 is the first of three consecutive symphonies to contain vocal elements with text taken from "Des Knaben Wunderhorn" (The Youth's Magic Horn), a collection of German folk poems that was a popular source of inspiration for musicians and artists throughout the 19th century.

Download the Program Notes. In a rare U.S. concert performance-and his first Symphony Hall appearance with the BSO since its Opening Night concert in 1997- superstar singer Bryn Terfel joins Music Director James Levine to open the 2010-11 season with a powerful all-Wagner program featuring the Welsh bass baritone in excerpts from "The Flying Dutchman", "Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg", and, in a preview of his upcoming Metropolitan Opera appearances in the composer's Ring cycle, "Die Walkure".