Andris Nelsons and the Wiener Philharmoniker Present Mahler’s Fifth Symphony as the Prelude to a Forthcoming Symphony Cycle
Nelsons and the Wiener Philharmoniker will release
all ten of Mahler’s symphonies for an exceptional new anthology
The dramatic Fifth Symphony, with its lyrically beautiful Adagietto,
leads the way on 1 May 2026
The complete cycle will be released on 23 October
“The famous Adagietto gets under your skin …
Nelsons’ interpretation [of the Fifth] is one of enormous love and passion”
BR-KLASSIK, on this performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 5
Following his celebrated Shostakovich cycle with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, a towering project that recently won a fifth GRAMMY® Award, as well as his newly issued Mendelssohn cycle with the Gewandhausorchester, Andris Nelsons’ next release is devoted to the music of Gustav Mahler. He has joined forces with the Wiener Philharmoniker – Mahler’s own orchestra – to record all ten of the composer’s symphonies. To herald the release of the complete cycle later this year, Deutsche Grammophon is issuing Symphony No. 5 as a standalone album, digitally and on vinyl (2 LPs), on 1 May 2026. The much-loved Adagietto will be available to stream/download from 3 April.
Mahler’s first purely instrumental symphony since the First, No. 5 in C sharp minor was written in 1901 and 1902, the years in which the composer suffered a serious health crisis but also met and married Alma Schindler – a course of events which could be said to be reflected in the work’s darkness-light narrative arc. The opening funeral march is followed by a “stormily agitated” second movement and the exuberant joy of the dancing Scherzo. The fourth movement is one of Mahler’s best-known pieces – the intimate and tender Adagietto for solo harp and strings, thought to have been a love letter to his young wife. The Rondo-Finale brings the work to an end in a radiant blaze of D major.
The performance recorded here took place at the 2022 Salzburg Festival. In its review, BR-KLASSIK singled out the warmth of the horn section – “one of the trademarks of the Wiener Philharmoniker”. “In [the Scherzo],” the reviewer continued, “Mahler creates a colourful mix of joy and pain, folk music and counterpoint, major and minor. Nelsons, a musician who reacts instinctively, moment by moment, is absolutely in his musical element, while his technical mastery is also clear to see.”
Andris Nelsons has established a close working relationship with the Wiener Philharmoniker over the last 15 years, and has already recorded a Beethoven cycle with the orchestra for DG. Together they have given many acclaimed performances of Mahler’s symphonies: their new box set comprises exclusively live recordings, captured between 2018 and 2026. The combination of Nelsons’ deeply committed approach to this repertoire and the Wiener Philharmoniker’s fabled sound and history of interpreting this composer’s music promises to make this one of the most significant Mahler projects of our time.
Scheduled for release digitally and as a 14-CD set on 23 October, Gustav Mahler – The Symphonies will also feature an array of leading soloists – sopranos Lucy Crowe, Ying Fang, Christiane Karg, Sarah Wegener and Jacquelyn Wagner; mezzo Ekaterina Gubanova; altos Wiebke Lehmkuhl and Tamara Mumford; tenor Benjamin Bruns; baritone Michael Nagy; and bass Tareq Nazmi. Between them, the Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Singverein der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien and Wiener Sängerknaben provide the choral elements in Nos. 2, 3 and 8.
Andris Nelsons finds Mahler’s art a source of endless fascination, “speaking to us at a universal level whilst creating an intimate and personal connection with each listener”, resulting in “an almost mystical connection between you, the composer and the music – reaching across time and place, directly touching your soul”.
Symphonies Nos. 3 and 8 will be recorded by Deutsche Grammophon later this season, when Nelsons and the Wiener Philharmoniker perform the works at Vienna’s Musikverein (No. 3; 1–3 May) and Konzerthaus (No. 8; 9‑11 May 2026). The 9 May performance of No. 8 will be streamed live on Deutsche Grammophon’s streaming service STAGE+, crowning the concurrent audiovisual cycle of Mahler’s symphonies, filmed in Vienna and Salzburg and made available to the platform’s subscribers.
