‘Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, Madaras & Reiss’

In his Fourth Symphony, the most concise and intimate of his ten symphonies, Mahler explores a pastoral world, full of serenity and wisdom, though doubt and irony are never far away. A peaceful musical journey where the human voice, that of the sublime soprano Chen Reiss, appears at the end to evoke the joys of Paradise, the reunion with Saint Cecilia, the encounter with the inhabitants of heavenly places. Another marvel of late romanticism, the Four Last Songs are the swan song, soothed though tinged with melancholy, by Richard Strauss.