Mahler’s Fourth Symphony

Conductor Nicholas Carter reunites with the orchestra to conduct Mahler’s Fourth Symphony, nicknamed “The Heavenly Life” and inspired by a child’s version of the delights of heaven, full of dancing and playing, good music and food. Australian composer Brett Dean's arrangement of a song cycle by Debussy, Forgotten Songs, is a Seattle Symphony premiere, and uses poignant texts by French visionary poet Paul Verlaine. The densely layered, emotional words are complemented by the composer's trademark impressionistic lightness, and feature guest soprano Patricia Westley, who also sings in the last movement of the Mahler. Strauss' ecstatic Dreaming by the Fireside takes its cue from another “dream,” the music evoking a dreamer's love and yearning for her faraway husband.