Dresdner Philharmonie

Programme: Joseph Haydn Symphony No. 104 in D major Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 4 in G major Joseph Haydn was a star long before there were any stars at all. Particularly with the twelve symphonies he wrote for the London audience, which were also premiered in London, he achieved such success that he became a truly wealthy man. There was merchandising, fan merchandise, and press coverage, and the audience was practically ecstatic at his concerts. This also applies to his very last Symphony No. 104, which begins with a thunderous bang and carries the character of a Bohemian folk song in the final movement. Gustav Mahler referred to his Fourth Symphony as his "cheeriest work." The audience at the premiere found it almost too simple for Mahler and did not take the elegant surface seriously – its profundity was only understood later: The "heaven" in Mahler's 4th Symphony is not an exalted beyond but a childishly naive vision of paradise. Starting from the Wunderhorn song "Das himmlische Leben," Mahler paints a bright, transparent sound world full of irony, simplicity, and gentle rapture, where innocence and quiet doubt coexist.