The classic masterpiece The Song of the Earth is scheduled to debut with two vocal soloists Trinh Thanh Binh and Swedish Anna Einarsson performing on July 12 at Hanoi Opera House.

The Song of the Earth is composed by Austrian Gustav Mahler. It achieved a full fusion of song and symphony, a direction in which his musical life's work had been heading all along.

The composition of The Song of the Earth is begun in the summer of 1808 and is comprised of six movements. Mahler's piece is a symphony for a tenor and an alto (or Baritone) voice and orchestra.

Seven poems from a Chinese work of poetry entitled The Chinese Flute are selected by Mahler which he set to music.

The poems are written more than 1,000 years prior, during the Tang dynasty (618-907). The majority are by Li Bai (Li Tai Po), probably the most famous of all Chinese classical poets.

The piece is made up of six movements, one poem per movement with the exception of the Finale, which makes use of two poems.

It is said that Mahler avoided numbering the symphony (it will have been his 9th) due to a superstitious fear of the "curse of the 9th Symphony". Composers such as Beethoven, Bruckner and Dvorak had all died without being able to produce a 10th symphony.


The philosophical message of the work reflects Mahler's own views on life, death, and re-birth, said an assiduous Mahler researcher Michael Bosworth, based in Hanoi .

"The natural cycle of the four seasons, the return of the life-giving sun on every new day – every sentient being is part and parcel of this endless process, both in life and in death," said Bosworth.

Mahler did not live long enough to hear the first performance of The Song of the Earth. The world premiere took place in Munich in 1911.

The Hanoi debut takes place at Hanoi Opera House featuring talented tenor Thanh Binh and mezzo-soprano Anna Einarsson.

Einarsson has performed with the Vietnam National Symphony and Orchestra (VNSO) several times before. She graduated from the National College of Operatic Art in Oslo in 2001.

Einarsson is a very active as a concert singer, having appeared in concerts in Norway , Italy , the US , and Germany .

Einarsson will perform with Thanh Binh for the first time. Binh graduated from the Vietnam National Academy of Music and has worked at the VNSO since 2004. He has performed in known operas such as Cosi Fan Tutte; La Boheme and The Little Sweep and as soloist in Symphony No9 by Beethoven; Through the Valley by German Pierre Oser and Carmen./.