Tour: Chamber Music

A tormented Mahler worried about whether his Das Lied von der Erde was maybe too intense for an audience. He composed this lied cycle, based on ancient Chinese poems, after the death of his little daughter Maria Anna. The oppressive Abschied (Farewell), in which the last words ‘ewig ... ewig' (forever… forever) fade almost imperceptibly into eternal silence, is enough to give the listener clammy hands. Music shot through with sadness and transience. No one is left unmoved.