Mahler in Amsterdam, 12 May 2025

Day 4 of our Hayllar Music Tours visit to Amsterdam saw us walking to and from a beautiful lunch - and the weather continues to be stunning - before a quiet afternoon. This gave us time to rest before the fourth concert this evening in the Concertgebouw Mahler Festival.

Fabio Luisi and the NHK Symphony Orchestra were on stage again after their excellent Mahler 3 last night.

The program opened with five of Mahler's songs setting texts from Des Knaben Wunderhorn. These were sung by baritone Matthias Goerne, an acknowledged master in this repertoire. Anyone who knows me well knows I'm a big Goerne fan and I wasn't disappointed.

After interval Luisi led the NHK in a spritely performance of the fourth symphony. The soprano soloist in the finale was Ying Fang. Her voice was ravishing, and for my taste perfectly suited to the simple, child-like sentiments of the text.

First posted on Facebook