Andris Nelsons conducts Mahler Symphony No. 3

For his final Symphony Hall concert in his 13-year tenure as the BSO’s Music Director, Andris Nelsons leads a work for which he has a powerful affinity: Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 3. Nelsons’ sensitivity to orchestral color, narrative drama, and the human voice are tailor-made for this masterpiece. The second of Mahler’s three “Wunderhorn” symphonies (nos. 2-4), the Third employs text from the collection Des Knaben Wunderhorn (“Youth’s Magic Horn”) as well as from Friedrich Nietzsche. Mahler’s broad musical canvas incorporates a full range of musical and emotional expression, moving through rousing fanfares, tender lyricism, and melancholy to the height of exaltation.