Concert "Hòa nhạc đặt vé trước số 188" (Subscription Concert No. 188)

   An all-Mahler evening from Vietnam's national orchestra, built around a work its composer never got to hear performed. If you follow the orchestra's season, this is the one to put in the diary early — the hall is mid-sized and the subscription nights fill up.

   In brief:

• — conductor: Honna Tetsuji;
• — tenor: Nguyễn Trường Linh; baritone: Nguyễn Khắc Hòa;
• — programme: Mahler, “Adagietto” from Symphony No. 5; Mahler, Das Lied von der Erde;
• — presented by the Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra (VNSO).

   The “Adagietto” is the slow movement of the Fifth Symphony and the single most frequently excerpted stretch of Mahler. It is followed by «Das Lied von der Erde», the song-symphony Mahler wrote in 1908–1909: six movements for large orchestra and two soloists who alternate across them. Mahler asked for a tenor and an alto, or a tenor and a baritone where no alto is available — this performance takes the second option. He died before hearing the piece staged.

   It suits regular concertgoers, conservatoire students, and anyone who would rather meet a major twentieth-century score in a live hall than through a recording.

   Seats come in three tiers by position in the hall. Fill in a full postal address when booking: the organisers post physical tickets out.

   The hall is on Hào Nam street in the academy's campus, west of Hanoi's old quarter — about fifteen minutes by car from Hoàn Kiếm lake outside rush hour.

   Book tickets.

   Two Mahler scores, one orchestra, no amplification — you will hear why people argue about this piece.