“I am delighted to perform and record the complete symphonies of Gustav Mahler with the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker. The result, we hope, should be something special: a rendition that stems from an active collaboration in which we mutually inspire one another. This should not be “my” Mahler, but “our” Mahler…….. Whenever I conduct Mahler, I attempt to find a way to formulate each symphony’s world and its emotional content in a way that I can apprehend. Out of the music, I spin stories for myself. And I also spend much time learning about the period when the work was written, and about Mahler’s universe of ideas. Ultimately, for every note I need to find a message and make that message my utter conviction. Thus, for instance, I imagine the first movement of the 7th Symphony as the step-by-step protocol of a disease. The dramaturgy seems to be following a fever curve: the fever starts by attacking, then it calms down, then it all suddenly comes back again. The Finale has sparked a multitude of opinions; as far as I am concerned, it should not be read as something directly positive. It sounds more like when one is drawing towards the end of a sickness, trying to convince oneself that one has truly recovered. It is a way of gathering up courage to start over, the will to embark on something new – in reality, however, one is not yet well. In the extended central Scherzo I have a feeling of persecuted angst; the surrounding “Night Music” movements are more or less delusory phases of apparent recovery. But it could all be a dream where certain flights of emotion are felt to be entirely logical, although incomprehensible if one were awake. Thanks to such associations I can reach a state of mind in which I can affirm: “this note has its justified place at exactly this spot, and no other one could be there in its place”. It is the result of a long process, in the course of which I ensure that the scores become my innermost conviction. In my view, this is the conductor´s task. It is exactly the opposite of “work-to-rule”. And, as we all know, convictions can change…….”