New Mahler CD

With Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 3, the Sinfonieorchester Basel continues its Basel Mahler cycle. The Second is now followed by the Third. Over five years, through to 2030, the orchestra is recording all of Mahler’s symphonies under chief conductor Markus Poschner.

The recording was made live in the Musiksaal of the Stadtcasino Basel. It captures the concert marking the orchestra’s 150th anniversary, given on 9th June 2026.

Mahler’s 3rd Symphony pushes the boundaries of symphonic form. Across six movements, it moves from archaic natural forces through dance, folk music and grotesque humour to music of profound existential and spiritual intensity.

Poschner approaches this multifaceted score with clarity of sound and rhythmic precision. The vast orchestral forces are not treated as a monumental block of sound. They form a finely differentiated fabric in which inner voices and unexpected colours come clearly to the fore.

Poschner also brings a distinctive perspective as a passionate jazz musician. His feel for groove, rhythmic flexibility and spontaneous musical communication lends new accents to the music. The score becomes not a fixed monument but a living organism, where tension arises from movement and contrast.

With Jasmin Jorias in the fourth movement, and the Knabenkantorei Basel and the Basler Gesangverein in the fifth, the sound world opens towards the transcendent. The great Adagio finale leads this journey to music of extraordinary concentration and inner breadth.

The recording is released as a 2-CD deluxe digibook on the Prospero Classical label. It continues the Basel Mahler cycle with an interpretation that does not reject tradition, but seeks new paths from within it.

Here is a first impression of the recording: