On November 26 Gustav Mahler’s music was presented at the Aram Khachaturian Concert Hall. The State Youth Orchestra of Armenia, headed by conductor Sergey Smbatyan, performed Symphony No. 5 by Austrian composer Gustav Mahler within the framework of the 4th Khachaturian International Festival.
Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 was finished in 1902; for the first time the symphony was performed in 1904 headed by the author. The Symphony has an unusual structure: it actually consists of five parts, united by the author in three large sections. Mahler himself admitted that the piece is quite difficult to perform.
Professor David Ghazaryan, the chairman of the Musical Society of Armenia, also stressed the complexity of the masterpiece.
“The complexity of the composition appears not only in its duration, but also in the concert parts of the wood-wind instruments. The performance of a symphony, consisting of 5 parts, requires more than a mature approach. Today the State Youth Orchestra of Armenia proved his maturity!”, – the distinguished professor says.
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It’s hard to remember the last time this monumental piece was performed in Yerevan. “It’s almost impossible to express the feelings one experiences when touching such music. You just have to listen, enjoy and enrich your soul. The Youth Orchestra presented us those fabulous moments”- said Armine Sarkisyan, one of the listeners.
It is noteworthy that the State Youth Orchestra of Armenia often refers to the works by Mahler. In 2015 orchestra presented another two monumental compositions by the Austrian composer – Symphony № 1 “Titan” and Symphony № 6, which is also known as the “Tragic” symphony.
