B4 - Songs of Alma and Gustav Mahler

ABOUT THE CONCERT

The young mezzo soprano Bella Adamova is establishing herself as an unmissable personality on the boundary between genres, as a performer with a growing erudition in song, in contemporary music and with an interest in unusual dramaturgy. Born in Grozny, Bella grew up in Prague and spent her university studies and formative years abroad. Her repertoire ranges from the works of Bellini, through German concert songs and Russian romances to the work of our contemporary Bernhard Lang. As she has demonstrated through her 2023 CD with songs by Pavel Haas, Gustav Mahler, Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky, Benjamin Britten and her own improvisations, she is deeply drawn to songs. This is the field in which husband and wife Alma and Gustav Mahler met most deeply in their work as authors. The later composer and conductor was born in a village inn in Kaliště near Humpolec to a German-speaking Jewish family, who moved to Jihlava a few months later. Here he spent the first fifteen years of his life, but he is otherwise inseparably linked to Vienna, where he also met Alma, the daughter from a family of artists, the muse of many artists, be it before their marriage, during their life together, and after Gustav’s untimely death. The list of Alma’s admirers included Alexander Zemlinsky, who later went on to become a long-time conductor of the New German Theatre in Prague. Although Alma was clearly musically talented, she had to give up a promising career as a composer, as Mahler wanted a housekeeper rather than a competitor.

Performance

Alma Mahler: Bei Dir ist es traut
Alma Mahler: Laue Sommernacht
Gustav Mahler: Ging heut morgen übers Feld
Alma Mahler: Ich wandle unter Blumen
Gustav Mahler: Wenn mein Schatz Hochzeit macht
Gustav Mahler: Ich hab ein glühend Messer
Alma Mahler: Die stille Stadt
Gustav Mahler: Die zwei blauen Augen
Alexander Zemlinsky: Symphony No. 1 in D minor 

Performers

Gregor Mayrhofer conductor
Bella Adamova vocals