A Great Mahler to Open the Symphonic Season

With the performance of Gustav Mahler’s monumental Symphony No. 5 in C-sharp minor, Teatro Massimo Bellini inaugurated its 2025/26 Concert Season in grand style. Composed between 1901 and 1902, this work marks the beginning of a new compositional phase for the Bohemian composer, one that would open new paths for 20th-century symphonic music—as masterfully described and analyzed by Caterina Rita Andò in the programme notes.

A journey of death and regeneration, Mahler’s symphony expands from a deeply human perspective to a universal breath, through a monumental musical fresco divided into three parts and five movements in total—brilliantly unfolded by the theatre’s magnificent orchestra under the superb direction of German conductor Marcus Bosch.

The structure is flawless: in the first two movements, which form the first part, human sorrow prevails, in a dark tunnel beginning with a funeral march led by the solo trumpet—Mario Musumarra, outstanding as always—and unraveling in frantic anguish. The second, central part opens uncertain glimpses of light: a vigorous scherzo in dance tempo, with the solo horn—Giovanni Pellerito, magnificent—guiding the sharp, typically Mahlerian textures.

The final part opens with the famous Adagietto, so beloved by Visconti, who used it in his Death in Venice (1971) as the emblem of a radiant aesthetic in search of absolute beauty. Here, the pure sound was entrusted to the strings and a solo harp—interpreted with great tenderness by Giuseppina Vergine. The symphony concludes with an exhilarating Rondo, clearing away darkness in a gesture of hope for the future.

Marcus Bosch’s baton led the orchestra through a journey of regeneration, free from any rhetoric, delving instead into the most intimate depths of the human soul. His direction was essential yet precise, capturing Mahler’s complex harmonic architecture across a rich and dense orchestral palette. A razor-sharp execution, not merely delivering the entries, tempo shifts, and colours, but probing into the profound layers of a score that continues to astonish.

An opening concert we can confidently describe as magnificent—thanks to the powerful rendition of one of the greatest symphonic masterpieces at the dawn of modernity. (And perhaps it is no coincidence that, in a sort of long-distance dialogue, Palermo performed Mahler’s Second Symphony on the very same evening.)

A full theatre, with an audience that, by the end, could not stop applauding with unwavering conviction.

By Aldo Mattina

Ph © Giacomo Orlando