ORCHESTRA FOR THE EARTH: MAHLER COMMISSION
I greatly enjoyed working on this art series commissioned especially for OFE's Alpine Tour 2018 of Mahler's Fourth Symphony. Each art piece in the collection depicts ideas and images associated with Mahler and the stunning alpine landscape where he found solace and inspiration.
Prints of each artwork are available to buy here. A percentage of all proceeds will go towards important local conservation projects in the three Alpine towns in Italy and Austria where Mahler kept composing huts throughout his life.
Thank you, Orchestra for the Earth, for supporting important music, environments, and people.
‘As soon as I am in the midst of nature and by myself, everything that is base and trivial vanishes without a trace. On such dates nothing scares me; and this helps me again and again.’ – Gustav Mahler
‘As soon as I am in the midst of nature and by myself, everything that is base and trivial vanishes without a trace. On such dates nothing scares me; and this helps me again and again.’ – Gustav Mahler
‘As soon as I am in the midst of nature and by myself, everything that is base and trivial vanishes without a trace. On such dates nothing scares me; and this helps me again and again.’ – Gustav Mahler
Mahler lost his five-year-old daughter Maria (affectionately known as Putzi) to scarlet fever while staying at their summer residence by the Wörthersee (1907), where he wrote his Fourth Symphony. After that year, the family never returned there. The soprano’s text in the final movement of the work ('Das Himmlische Leben' or 'The Heavenly Life') narrates a child’s view of Heaven. It is one of Mahler’s many poignant settings of texts on the topic of children and childhood.
'A symphony must be like the world, it must contain everything.' - Gustav Mahler