Vasily Petrenko on Mahler

Last month we hosted the first of our new in-store insight events, with Russian conductor Vasily Petrenko joining a live audience via video-link to discuss his new recording of Mahler's Symphony No. 3 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and mezzo Hanna Hipp on Harmonia Mundi.

Interspersed with excerpts from the live recording (which was made at the Royal Albert Hall in 2023), the conversation covered Petrenko's early experience of performing the symphony as a member of a boys' choir in St Petersburg, the subsequent evolution of his relationship with Mahler's music, how he surmounted the challenges posed by this particular space and acoustic, and why ironing helps him to ground himself before a performance...