The practice of arranging orchestral works for smaller ensembles is as old as music history itself. From the baroque composers in the 1600’s who wrote not for a specific set of instruments but for roles or functions, through composers as Mozart and Beethoven who used chamber arrangements of their bigger works as ways to promote and tour with their own music, to the almost forensic approach of Schönberg and his students in Vienna at the beginning of the XX century when they, within their selected group, dissected some major symphonic works which were very influential and relevant at the time.
On this CD Natalia Ensemble is paying a homage to the genius of Gustav Mahler by approaching his colossal 5th symphony in an original arrangement for 17 players and performed without a conductor. This novel version of Mahler’s 5th gives a new perspective on the piece, it is both much clearer and transparent, showing every little detail that Mahler hid in the piece as if looked through a magnifying glass, but at the same time, the chamber music nature of this arrangement and of Natalia Ensemble gives this performance a unique force, energy and depth which are the essence of the works of Mahler.
Natalia Ensemble is a project created by a group of young musicians with a similar musical background who after meeting and playing together in the GMJO (Gustav Mahler Jugend-Orchester), felt the need to prolong the experience of making music together. Their idea is to approach (without a conductor) big symphonic repertoire arranged for a soloists ensemble by studying and performing the score, thus taking the full responsibility and control of the outcome. Orchestral works interpreted as chamber music pieces. United by a common view of how music is made and spurred on by their friendship, they work to perpetuate this project, complementing the musical quality offered by the major symphonic musical formations.
