CANCELLED due to Coronavirus - The new colours of Mahler and Larcher

Like Gustav Mahler, his compatriot Thomas Larcher manages to elicit unheard-of sounds from the orchestra. The songs of Mahler's Des Knaben Wunderhorn form a fine foundation for Larcher's Third Symphony, a commissioned composition.

Soulmates: Larcher and Mahler
On the face of it, they appear to be soul mates: Thomas Larcher and Gustav Mahler. Larcher, born in Innsbruck and raised in the Tyrolean Alps, Mahler who spent his summers in a composer's hut high in the mountains. Larcher who wrote one vocal cycle after another. Mahler who used his Wunderhorn songs as a goldmine for his symphonic work.
There are also differences. Larcher is now fifty-five and can look forward to his next symphony. Mahler died at fifty-one, leaving behind nine symphonies and stacks of songs, but little else. Larcher wrote an extensive oeuvre in all possible settings, even an opera, a genre Mahler conducted but did not compose.

How can an orchestra sound?
The most important similarity between the two is the curiosity for sound. Mahler radically changed the orchestral face of the symphony, but after half a century was assured of the admiration of his audience. In the two symphonies that were performed earlier in the ZaterdagMatinee, Larcher follows in his footsteps. Soulmates.