Mahler 3
Lehmkuhl, Järvi, Lucerne Festival Orchestra

In its 20th season, the Lucerne Festival Orchestra opens the 2023 Summer Festival with Mahler’s Third. Unfortunately, music director Riccardo Chailly cannot conduct this momentous concert due to health issues. Paavo Järvi takes over on short notice and proves to be a more than worthy substitute. In Mahler’s Third, he leads orchestra, chorus, and soloist Wiebke Lehmkuhl to an “air-spirited serenity” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung), that is met with enthusiastic applause.

To this day, Mahler’s Third is considered one of the most magnificent and powerful achievements bridging late Romanticism and modernism, ranging from simple folksong-like melodies to the coarse sounds of a marching brass band. The long-standing Mahler experience of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra shines through at every moment. Paired with Wiebke Lehmkuhl’s warm and comforting timbre, the clarity of the two choirs and the expert guidance by Paavo Järvi, this opening concert turns into a veritable moment of glory.