The end of an era and a musical highlight: Simon Rattle’s farewell as chief conductor of the Berliner Philharmoniker with Gustav Mahler’s stunning Sixth Symphony was given a standing ovation by the audience.

On 14 November 1987, the young Simon Rattle first took to the conductor’s podium of the Berliner Philharmoniker. “I had the feeling that I would find my voice that day,” says Rattle in retrospect. At the same time, the young conductor demonstrated his total mastery of this vast work with its brutal eruptions. The fact that Mahler’s work was also part of this farewell concert had a symbolic as well as a musical dimension: it brought both a circle to a close and also a great chapter in the history of the Berliner Philharmoniker to an end. At the same time, the performance reminded us that performances of Mahler’s music marked highlights of the Rattle era on numerous occasions. The tumultuous applause expressed not only enthusiasm for a uniquely intense, multi-faceted performance but also gratitude for 16 fulfilling years.

Symphony No. 8 in D major by Gustav Mahler was mainly composed between late 1887 and March 1888, though it incorporates music Mahler had composed for previous works. It was composed while Mahler was second conductor at the Leipzig Opera, Germany. Although in his letters Mahler almost always referred to the work as a symphony, the first two performances described it as a symphonic poem and as a tone poem in symphonic form respectively. The work was premi`ered at the Vigad’o Concert Hall, Budapest, in 1889, but was not well received Mahler made some major revisions for the second performance, given at Hamburg in October 1893; further alterations were made in the years prior to the first publication, in late 1898. Some modern performances and recordings give the work the title Titan, despite the fact that Mahler only used this label for the second and third performances, and never after the work had reached its definitive four-movement form in 1896.

Anton Bruckner is a composer with an unmistakable musical language: darkly glowing, overwhelmingly beautiful, but also energetic and innovative. For the Berliner Philharmoniker, this music has been part of their artistic identity for over a hundred years. The orchestra now presents Bruckner’s symphonies in an exclusive edition, recorded over the last ten years together with some of the foremost Bruckner interpreters of our time.

Sir Simon Rattle’s last Asia tour as chief conductor of the Berliner Philharmoniker was a triumph, and is documented here in selected audio and video recordings. At the heart of this edition are audio recordings of the two final concerts at the legendary Suntory Hall in Tokyo – the musical and emotional highlight of the tour. “The quality of the orchestra delighted audiences,” said one critic. “It was a virtuoso display of ensemble playing that is simply indescribable.”

This Gustav Mahler edition brings together Berliner Philharmoniker recordings from the last ten years. It includes the nine completed symphonies and the Adagio of the Tenth, whose performance under the direction of Claudio Abbado on the 100th anniversary of Mahler’s death is one of the highlights. In addition to chief conductor Kirill Petrenko and his predecessor Sir Simon Rattle, the edition features other outstanding Mahler interpreters closely associated with the orchestra: Gustavo Dudamel, Bernard Haitink, Daniel Harding, Andris Nelsons and Yannick Nézet-Séguin.