Mahler's Kindertotenlieder by Magdalena Kožená

Karina Canellakis conducts Schoenberg's beautiful orchestration of Brahms' First Piano Quartet. Magdalena Kožená sings Mahler's Kindertotenlieder.

The long lines of Brahms

Brahms' Piano Quartet in Arnold Schoenberg's orchestral arrangement was high on Karina Canellakis' wish list. She calls the grandly scored and detailed work "good for an orchestra." That the typically Brahmsian melody lines are also good for the listener need not be argued. With the brilliant mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená in the ranks, Mahler's poignant Kindertotenlieder are the perfect complement to the world of Schoenberg and Brahms.

The echoes of Brahms, Mahler and Schoenberg

Canellakis also introduces the work of Canadian/New York-based Zosha Di Castri to her orchestra. In the summer of 2019, she successfully conducted a new work by this composer at the First Night of the Proms. For the first time, a work by a female composer, conducted by a woman, opened the London Proms. The Guardian called that alone "a great leap forward." In Di Castri's colorful Lineage, echoes of Brahms, Mahler and Schoenberg blend organically with contemporary insights.