Simon Rattle conducts Dvořák and Mahler

Simon Rattle conducts Dvořák and Mahler

Sir Simon Rattle conducts the Czech Philharmonic in this concert program featuring works by Antonín Dvořák and Gustav Mahler, recorded at the Rudolfinum, Dvořák Hall, Prague on March 1, 2019. The program opens with Dvořák's symphonic poem 'The Golden Spinning Wheel', Op. 109. The work is a poetic treatment of a fairytale by Czech writer Božena Němcová. Dvořák’s Golden Spinning Wheel was premiered in private by the orchestra of the Prague Conservatoire conducted by Antonín Bennewitz in 1896. The Czech Philharmonic concludes the program with Mahler's symphony Das Lied von der Erde. Soloists are Magdalena Kožená (mezzo-soprano) and Simon O’Neill (tenor). In May 1908, Gustav Mahler returned to Europe after his first season in New York and spent the summer holiday in South Tyrol, where he began composing Das Lied von der Erde to texts from the collection Die chinesische Flöte ('The Chinese flute'), adaptations of Chinese poetry by Hans Bethge. Mahler finished the fair copy of the score the following autumn while staying in the Moravian town Hodonín.