Lorenzo Viotti and the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra

You would expect Mahler to write a heavy and dark symphony, shortly after his beloved daughter died and Mahler himself was diagnosed with a defective heart. But the opening notes to his ninth symphony sound as gentle as if they were the gates of heaven sliding open, and it becomes clear to the listener that there was also light within Mahler. Still, the ninth is not light-hearted. During the symphony, which takes almost 90 minutes, it feels like Mahler processes all his emotions and memories. The result is the last – and largest – symphony by a composer who always wanted to go bigger. 
 
This concert is the first time Lorenzo Viotti – the skateboarding, jazz-drumming, death-metal-loving, Instagramming conductor-phenomenon – will perform in de Doelen.