Jukka-Pekka Saraste
Tabea Zimmermann Béla Bartók
Gustav Mahler

Béla Bartók (1881–1945) emigrated from Hungary to the United States in 1940 and spent his final years in Manhattan, New York. In 1944, his Concerto for Orchestra marked a breakthrough in his new homeland, and he received several commissions for new works towards the end of his life.

Bartók’s Viola Concerto was one of the works he did not live to complete; it was finished by his student Tibor Serly. The music is deeply influenced by Bartók’s tireless efforts to collect folk tunes from Hungary and its neighboring countries, and to integrate them into his own musical language.

Gustav Mahler (1860–1911) began work on his Fifth Symphony in the summer of 1901 and completed it the following summer. The year 1901 was one of contrasts for the composer – in February, he fell gravely ill and hovered between life and death; in November, he met Alma Schindler, the great love of his life.

Symphony No. 5 is also rich in contrasts. The first movement is a funeral march – written shortly after his brush with death. The mood then shifts with each movement: through a tempestuous second movement, an energetic Scherzo, the silky idyll of the Adagietto, and a jubilant finale.