Following the summer break, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin and Christoph Eschenbach warmly welcome you, our audience, back to the Great Hall! To open the season, our guest will be the celebrated soprano Renée Fleming, a long-time musical companion of our principal conductor. As a pianist, he has recorded highly acclaimed Schubert lieder with her and also directed her as an outstanding interpreter of Richard Strauss. She will sing Strauss’ sombre “Four Last Songs” from 1948 in this concert. Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 5, performed after the intermission, is one of Mahler’s works that Christoph Eschenbach holds in the highest esteem. However, its creator wrote in 1905: “The Fifth is a cursed work. No one understands it.” Nearly 120 years later, of course, this is no longer the case. With its five movements in three sections and key changes that seemed irritating at the time, it is now one of his most frequently performed works. The Adagietto – the resting point in which only string instruments play – is world-famous. Cineastes will immediately recall Visconti’s classic film “Death in Venice”, in which it is used to great dramaturgical effect.