Klaus Mäkelä
Johanna Wallroth Gustav Mahler
Richard Wagner

Richard Wagner (1813-1883) was one of the 19th century's most influential artists, regardless of the art form. The opera Tristan and Isolde builds on a tragic love story from the middle ages, and Wagner finished writing the opera in Lucerne in 1859. The Prelude to the opera created a watershed moment in music history with its unstable and unpredictable harmonies. It became a starting point for the development of music without traditional tonality. The opera's Prelude and last part, Liebestod, is performed this evening.

Gustav Mahler wrote his Symphony no. 4 based on one of his songs, Das himmlische Leben - "The heavenly life." The lyrics are a child's description of heaven, found in one of Mahler's most important sources of inspiration: Des knaben Wunderhorn, a collection of German folk poetry. The song, which the soprano performs in the fourth movement, is the foundation for the three previous movements. Symphony no. 4 is Mahler's shortest and brightest symphony and has been an entry gate for many Mahler enthusiasts since its premiere in 1901.

Jean Sibelius' (1865-1957) Symphony no. 7 from 1924 is the composer's last symphony and the only one consisting of one continuous movement. Symphony no. 7 is a kind of cross between a symphony and a symphonic poem - the musical ideas change gradually as if they live a life on their own. The music moves through an enormous range of timbres, tempos, and moods through eleven distinct parts, culminating in what Klaus Mäkelä calls «one of the most beautiful endings there is.»