Mahler: Symphony No. 5

The recording of Mahler's Fifth Symphony by the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich under its chief conductor Paavo Järvi is the start of a complete cycle of Mahler's symphonies. Järvi has naturally conducted Mahler's works many times in his career, but he has been waiting for the right moment to record the complete cycle in the studio: the right moment not only in his life as a musician, but also in his relationship with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich. The maturity and power expressed in the orchestra's recordings for Alpha Classics have been praised by the music press since 2019. "With the Fifth, Mahler really opened up a new universe in which he initiated a very personal style of making music," says Paavo Järvi. "The very way it opens - a military funeral march - and its tragedy combined with the idea of beginning a symphony in this way, signal that something completely different awaits us."