‘The Fifth is a cursed piece. Nobody understands it.’ That was Gustav Mahler’s pronouncement in March 1905 following a performance of his Fifth Symphony in Hamburg. He had been working on his new symphony for almost three years before it premiered on 18 October 1904 in Cologne, with the Gürzenich Orchestra and Gustav Mahler on the podium. To many of his contemporaries, the work seemed too bold, too radical – perhaps also insufficiently understood, given that programmatic explanations had been added to the so-called ‘Wunderhorn’ Symphonies, nos. 2 to 4. Not only the number and the order of the movements seemed new, but stylistically Mahler also broke new ground with his Fifth. Now, all at once, his musical language changed, a transformation that evidently gave him some unease later. Shortly before his death, he made alterations to the instrumentation. Today the work is considered the beginning of his new creative phase, which culminated in his Ninth Symphony. It’s also one of his most popular symphonies.

Gary Bertini was born in Bessarabia (now Moldova) in 1927. After the Second World War, he studied at the Milan Conservatory, then at the Tel Aviv Academy of Music where he graduated in 1951, and finally at the Paris Conservatory and the École Normale de Musique. He founded and directed first the Rinat Choir – later named the Israel Chamber Choir – and then the Israel Chamber Ensemble, with which he made numerous appearances in Europe and the USA. During his career, he was principal conductor of the Frankfurt Opera and the Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra, artistic director of the New Israel Opera, and music director of the Rome Opera and the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. Bertini’s breadth of repertoire was very impressive, stretching from 16th-century works to music by contemporary composers.

Live recording: 20 March 1981, Liederhalle, Stuttgart