Bernstein conducts Mahler: Symphony No. 7 (1974)

For a long time, the Seventh Symphony was considered Gustav Mahler's most problematic work because of its mixture of very different registers of style and expression. Leonard Bernstein, however, was fascinated by Mahler's music precisely because of the clash of opposites and the tension between opposite extremes, which also determined his own artistic profile as a composer and conductor. No wonder, then, that this filmed performance with the Wiener Philharmoniker is as adept at expressing the shadowy atmosphere of the beginning as it is at capturing the poetic mood of the two "Nachtmusik" movements and the jubilation of the finale with its echoes of the worlds of the circus and opera.

Ensemble: 

Wiener Philharmoniker

Conductor: 

Leonard Bernstein