Mahler: The Wunderhorn World – Ensemble Progetto Pierrot

Gustav Mahler is something of a musical paradox. On the one hand, he represents one of the last representative of musical Romanticism: thus, qualities such as the sublime, the heroic, the immense and infinity are abundantly found in his poetical world. On the other hand, he is known for the abundant present of popular music in his works, which, at times, even becomes trivial or kitsch – purposefully so. The sublime and the vulgar are subtly connected, and, in so doing, the sublime is brought down to earth, but the vulgar is elevated in parallel. A similar dichotomy opposes the gigantic musical forces required for some of his symphonies and the extreme mastery of the small-scale forms (both in terms of duration and of musicians: the Lied above all). In this discographic project, a fascinating net of hidden thematic references between Mahler’s Symphonies and his Lieder is unveiled – as well as between his oeuvre and that of other Viennese composers such as Schubert and the Strauss family, and chamber-music versions of his masterpieces reveal the transparency of his musical thought.