Nico and the Navigators – Mahlermania (Documentary)

This documentary follows Nico and the Navigators on the stage and behind the stage during rehearsals and the performance of MAHLERMANIA: A progressive outlook versus fear of the unknown, the bitterness of the outsider versus a yearning for greener grass, a manic drive versus self-absorption… Gustav Mahler's music is a mass of contrasts and dualities linked only by a weak tissue of shifting balances. In Mahler's body of songs no less than in his nine symphonies, this inner conflict thrusts itself upon the audience with existential urgency: each song marks a way-station along a road that leads from the romantic idylls of the "Wunderhorn" via the familial intimacy of the "Rückert–Lieder" to the contemplative outlook of Far Eastern lyricism in the "Lied von der Erde". In their first production at the Deutsche Oper Berlin Nico and the Navigators tackle the cosmos of Mahler's songs in an evening of poetical and physical expression that endeavours to distil this sifting of senses for the stage. For Nico and the Navigators this Mahler project represents not only another excursion into musical theatre but also the beginning of a sustained collaboration with the opera house. A Deutsche Oper Berlin Production in cooperation with Nico and the Navigators. Also available: Performance of MAHLERMANIA, Progr. No.: 5953