Paavo Järvi and the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich continue their complete cycle of Mahler symphonies with the Seventh, which is considered one of his most complex and demanding symphonies: "The Mahler we get to know in Symphony No. 7 is more complex, darker and more philosophical than the Mahler we know from his earlier works," says Paavo Järvi. Mahler, who was extremely busy as director of the Vienna Opera, composed this symphony in the summers of 1904 and 1905 on the shores of Lake Wörthersee in Austria. Also known as the "Song of the Night", this symphony is characterized by rich orchestration (including a guitar and a mandolin in the fourth movement) and spectacular orchestral effects: "Nature roars here", Mahler said about the tenor horn solo at the beginning of the work.