Published on Jul 25, 2013
Slide-show of Venice with contemporary photographs and antique oil paintings.
Symphony No5 /Mahler/ Adagietto/ Berlin Philharmoniker/Herbert von Karajan
The 1974 recording - Deutsche Grammophon
Slide-show of Venice with contemporary photographs and antique oil paintings.
Symphony No5 /Mahler/ Adagietto/ Berlin Philharmoniker/Herbert von Karajan
The 1974 recording - Deutsche Grammophon
Published on May 3, 2014
Herbert von Karajan, BPO, 1973.
00:00 I. Trauermarsch. In gemessenem Schritt. Streng. Wie ein Kondukt
13:06 II. Stürmisch bewegt. Mit größter Vehemenz
28:17 III. Scherzo. Kräftig, nicht zu schnell
46:28 IV. Adagietto. Sehr langsam http://youtu.be/zNpMMW9FVko
58:20 V. Rondo-Finale. Allegro
Adagietto Live Recording http://youtu.be/mnkVUqvjIxQ
"Mahler is very difficult for an orchestra. First, you must, as a painter would say, make your palette. But the difficulty is great, and the greatest danger is that if it is not well performed the music can seem banal" Herbert von Karajan
Karajan waited so long to approach the symphonies of their fellow countryman Gustav Mahler. After the war he had been offered the chance to do all the Mahler symphonies but declined as the rehearsal time was not sufficient. Assigning a specific national identity to Mahler is, of course a somewhat tricky proposition. Preceded by a two-year phase of rehearsals, the interpretations that gradually emerged during the 1970's and 1980's. In fact, by stressing the romantic elements, Karajan's performances often looked backwards thus seeing Mahler's music as a great conclusion to 19th-century Romanticism. His first recording of one of Mahler's works - the monumental symphony written in 1901-02. The genesis and scope of Mahler's monumental achievment can only be appreciated by knowing his origins and by understading his Viennese cosmopolitanism as well as his scepticism, depression and profound loneliness, which were as thoroughly Austrian as the Alpine vistas he loved. Every aspect of the interpretation, including Karajan's underlying aesthetic conception, was subjected to intense scrutiny. The aesthete Karajan and his orchestra have made a stiking contribution to the history of Mahler interpretation. For Karajan it was a protracted quest, for the listener it is a belated discovery.
"In the Fourth movement, the famous Adagietto, very slowly, harp and strings alone play. The opening melody recalls two of Mahler's songs, "Nun seh' ich wohl" (from Kindertotenlieder) and the separate Ruckert setting "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen". The long upbeats and expressive appoggiaturas of the melodic lines give the music a yearning, almost heart-breaking quality. The intensity that builds up inthis movement finaly assuages the darkness and doubts of the earlier movements, making the lighter mood and extrovert energy of the Rondo-Finale acceptable. Together, these two movements form the third part of the symphony. The formal function of the Adagietto is ambiguous. It acts as an introduction to the last movement, which follows without a break, and is thematically bound to it, for twice in the Finale we hear the Adagietto's main theme, now at a fast tempo.
Even without a text or programme, the music's emotional and referential content implies an existential dimension. Without an explicit programme or titles, we have few clues to the "meaning" of the Fifth Symphony other than the music itself. Mahler offers some guidance by grouping the five movements, which share some thematic Material, as well as an obsession with death, from the first part; the central scherzo stands alone as the second part; and the lat two movements, which are also linked thematically, form the third.
An essential aspect of Mahler's symphonies is the idea of emotional and spiritual progression, through various alternatives to a (provisional) conclusion. One important means he uses to articulate this spiritual journey is the technique of progressive tonality. In other symphonies he begins and ends movements in diferent keys, but in the Fifth each movement begins and ends in the same key; however as a whole, it moves from C sharp minor opening movement to the D major of the third and fifth movements.
One reason for Mahler's significance and influence as a composer is that he viewed his music as a means of seeking and expressing solutions to the problems of his personal, spiritual life.
The Symphony No. 5 by Gustav Mahler is arguably the best known Mahler symphony. The musical canvas and emotional scope of the work are huge. Herbert von Karajan said once that when you hear Mahler's Fifth, "you forget that time has passed. A great performance of the Fifth is a transforming experience."
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Published on Feb 23, 2014
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No.5 in C sharp minor
Erster Teil
I. Trauermarsch. In gemessenem Schritt. Streng. Wie ein Kondukt (00:00)
II. Strürmisch bewegt. Mit größter Vehemenz (14:14)
Zweiter Teil
III. Scherzo. Kräftig, nicht zu schnell (29:44)
Driter Teil
IV. Adagietto. Sehr langsam (49:06)
V. Rondo-Finale. Allegro - Allegro giocoso. Frisch (1:00:21)
Wiener Philharmoniker
Leonard Bernstein, conductor
September 10, 1987
Royal Albert Hall, London
Erster Teil
I. Trauermarsch. In gemessenem Schritt. Streng. Wie ein Kondukt (00:00)
II. Strürmisch bewegt. Mit größter Vehemenz (14:14)
Zweiter Teil
III. Scherzo. Kräftig, nicht zu schnell (29:44)
Driter Teil
IV. Adagietto. Sehr langsam (49:06)
V. Rondo-Finale. Allegro - Allegro giocoso. Frisch (1:00:21)
Wiener Philharmoniker
Leonard Bernstein, conductor
September 10, 1987
Royal Albert Hall, London
Instrumentation Orchestra
- 4 flutes (3rd, 4th also piccolo), 3 oboes (3rd also English horn),
- 3 clarinets (A, C, B♭) (3rd also bass clarinet (B♭), piccolo clarinet (D)),
3 bassoons (3rd also contrabassoon)
- 3 clarinets (A, C, B♭) (3rd also bass clarinet (B♭), piccolo clarinet (D)),
- Obligato horn (F), 6 horns (F), 4 trumpets (B♭, F), 3 trombones, tuba
timpani, snare drums, bass drum, cymbals, triangle, tam-tam, whip, glockenspiel, harp, strings
Published on Mar 8, 2012
Gustav Mahler - Symphony Nº 5 in C sharp minor, 1901-02.
Wiener Philharmoniker, Vienna Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein.
[HD] Adagietto http://youtu.be/15WQNKhaCHY
Movements:
I Trauermarsch. In gemessenem Schritt. Streng. Wie ein Kondukt. http://youtu.be/tPpm323M_Ik
II Stürmisch bewegt, mit größter Vehemenz http://youtu.be/JwxrTsSQf0Y
III Scherzo. Kräftig, nicht zu schnell http://youtu.be/SKPlH6L5zeE
IV Adagietto. Sehr langsam. http://youtu.be/yjz2TvC2TT4
V Rondo-Finale. Allegro - Allegro giocoso. Frisch http://youtu.be/U5573xP6JkU
Complete Playlist http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPpm32...
"In the Fourth movement, the famous Adagietto, harp and strings alone play. The opening melody recalls two of Mahler's songs, "Nun seh' ich wohl" (from Kindertotenlieder) and the separate Ruckert setting "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen". The long upbeats and expressive appoggiaturas of the melodic lines give the music a yearning, almost heart-breaking quality. The intensity that builds up inthis movement finaly assuages the darkness and doubts of the earlier movements, making the lighter mood and extrovert energy of the Rondo-Finale acceptable. Together, these two movements form the third part of the symphony. The formal function of the Adagietto is ambiguous. It acts as an introduction to the last movement, which follows without a break, and is thematically bound to it, for twice in the Finale we hear the Adagietto's main theme, now at a fast tempo. The Adagietto also functions as a slow interlude in F major, between two faster movements in D major; but is also has an expressive weight sufficient for it to stand on its own - indeed, it is often performed by itself.
Even without a text or programme, the music's emotional and referential content implies an existential dimension. Without an explicit programme or titles, we have few clues to the "meaning" of the Fifth Symphony other than the music itself. Mahler offers some guidance by grouping the five movements, which share some thematic Material, as well as an obsession with death, from the first part; the central scherzo stands alone as the second part; and the lat two movements, which are also linked thematically, form the third.
An essential aspect of Mahler's symphonies is the idea of emotional and spiritual progression, through various alternatives to a (provisional) conclusion. One important means he uses to articulate this spiritual journey is the technique of progressive tonality. In other symphonies he begins and ends movements in diferent keys, but in the Fifth each movement begins and ends in the same key; however as a whole, it moves from C sharp minor opening movement to the D major of the third and fifth movements.
One reason for Mahler's significance and influence as a composer is that he viewed his music as a means of seeking and expressing solutions to the problems of his personal, spiritual life. The Depth and seriousness of these problems naturally drew him to the largescale form of the symphony, wich he expanded in length and number of movements to unprecedented proportions.
Mahler kept revising the orchestration of this work until his death. He conducted the first performance with the Gürzenich Orchestra in Cologne on October 18, 1904. He'd begun the Fifth Symphony at Maiernegg in 1901 - writing the third, first and second movements in that order, after a death-obsessed song, "Der Tamboursg'sell," and the Kindertotenlieder cycle ("on the death of children"). After nearly bleeding to death the previous winter (from an intestinal hemorrhage), Mahler's symphonic orientation underwent a profound change. Mahler cast his Fifth Symphony in five movements that fall naturally into three parts.
The First begins in C sharp minor with a Funeral March, of measured tread and austere (Movement I). A sonata-form movement follows, marked "Stormily, with greatest vehemence" (Movement II), which shares themes as well as mood with the opening.
The Second Part (which Mahler composed first) is a Scherzo: "Vigorously, not too fast" (Movement III) -- the symphony's shortest large section, but its longest single movement. This emphatically joyous, albeit manic movement puts forward D major as the work's focal key. Although its form has remained a topic of debate since 1904, rondo and sonata-form elements are both present.
Part Three begins with a seraphic Adagietto: "Very slowly" (Movement IV). This is indubitably related to the Rückert song Mahler composed in August 1901, "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen" (I have become lost to the world...I live alone in my heaven, in my loving, in my song). A Rondo-Finale: "Allegro giocoso, lively" (Movement V) concludes the symphony, although Mahler devised a form far removed from classic models. While sectional, in truth episodic, this too has elements of sonata form.
Wiener Philharmoniker, Vienna Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein.
[HD] Adagietto http://youtu.be/15WQNKhaCHY
Movements:
I Trauermarsch. In gemessenem Schritt. Streng. Wie ein Kondukt. http://youtu.be/tPpm323M_Ik
II Stürmisch bewegt, mit größter Vehemenz http://youtu.be/JwxrTsSQf0Y
III Scherzo. Kräftig, nicht zu schnell http://youtu.be/SKPlH6L5zeE
IV Adagietto. Sehr langsam. http://youtu.be/yjz2TvC2TT4
V Rondo-Finale. Allegro - Allegro giocoso. Frisch http://youtu.be/U5573xP6JkU
Complete Playlist http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPpm32...
"In the Fourth movement, the famous Adagietto, harp and strings alone play. The opening melody recalls two of Mahler's songs, "Nun seh' ich wohl" (from Kindertotenlieder) and the separate Ruckert setting "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen". The long upbeats and expressive appoggiaturas of the melodic lines give the music a yearning, almost heart-breaking quality. The intensity that builds up inthis movement finaly assuages the darkness and doubts of the earlier movements, making the lighter mood and extrovert energy of the Rondo-Finale acceptable. Together, these two movements form the third part of the symphony. The formal function of the Adagietto is ambiguous. It acts as an introduction to the last movement, which follows without a break, and is thematically bound to it, for twice in the Finale we hear the Adagietto's main theme, now at a fast tempo. The Adagietto also functions as a slow interlude in F major, between two faster movements in D major; but is also has an expressive weight sufficient for it to stand on its own - indeed, it is often performed by itself.
Even without a text or programme, the music's emotional and referential content implies an existential dimension. Without an explicit programme or titles, we have few clues to the "meaning" of the Fifth Symphony other than the music itself. Mahler offers some guidance by grouping the five movements, which share some thematic Material, as well as an obsession with death, from the first part; the central scherzo stands alone as the second part; and the lat two movements, which are also linked thematically, form the third.
An essential aspect of Mahler's symphonies is the idea of emotional and spiritual progression, through various alternatives to a (provisional) conclusion. One important means he uses to articulate this spiritual journey is the technique of progressive tonality. In other symphonies he begins and ends movements in diferent keys, but in the Fifth each movement begins and ends in the same key; however as a whole, it moves from C sharp minor opening movement to the D major of the third and fifth movements.
One reason for Mahler's significance and influence as a composer is that he viewed his music as a means of seeking and expressing solutions to the problems of his personal, spiritual life. The Depth and seriousness of these problems naturally drew him to the largescale form of the symphony, wich he expanded in length and number of movements to unprecedented proportions.
Mahler kept revising the orchestration of this work until his death. He conducted the first performance with the Gürzenich Orchestra in Cologne on October 18, 1904. He'd begun the Fifth Symphony at Maiernegg in 1901 - writing the third, first and second movements in that order, after a death-obsessed song, "Der Tamboursg'sell," and the Kindertotenlieder cycle ("on the death of children"). After nearly bleeding to death the previous winter (from an intestinal hemorrhage), Mahler's symphonic orientation underwent a profound change. Mahler cast his Fifth Symphony in five movements that fall naturally into three parts.
The First begins in C sharp minor with a Funeral March, of measured tread and austere (Movement I). A sonata-form movement follows, marked "Stormily, with greatest vehemence" (Movement II), which shares themes as well as mood with the opening.
The Second Part (which Mahler composed first) is a Scherzo: "Vigorously, not too fast" (Movement III) -- the symphony's shortest large section, but its longest single movement. This emphatically joyous, albeit manic movement puts forward D major as the work's focal key. Although its form has remained a topic of debate since 1904, rondo and sonata-form elements are both present.
Part Three begins with a seraphic Adagietto: "Very slowly" (Movement IV). This is indubitably related to the Rückert song Mahler composed in August 1901, "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen" (I have become lost to the world...I live alone in my heaven, in my loving, in my song). A Rondo-Finale: "Allegro giocoso, lively" (Movement V) concludes the symphony, although Mahler devised a form far removed from classic models. While sectional, in truth episodic, this too has elements of sonata form.
The Symphony No. 5 by Gustav Mahler was composed in 1901 and 1902, mostly during the summer months at Mahler's cottage at Maiernigg. Among its most distinctive features are the trumpet solo that opens the work and the frequently performed Adagietto.
The musical canvas and emotional scope of the work, which lasts over an hour, are huge. The symphony is sometimes described as being in the key of C♯ minor since the first movement is in this key (the finale, however, is in D).[1] Mahler objected to the label: "From the order of the movements (where the usual first movement now comes second) it is difficult to speak of a key for the 'whole Symphony', and to avoid misunderstandings the key should best be omitted."[2]
Instrumentation[edit]
The piece is scored for a large orchestra made up of:
- woodwinds: 4 flutes (3rd & 4th doubling piccolos; for the last two bars of the Scherzo, all four flutes play piccolo), 3 oboes (3rd doubling English horn), 3 clarinets in B-flat (3rd doubling clarinet in D1and bass clarinet), 3 bassoons (3rd doubling contrabassoon)
- brass: 6 horns in F2, 4 trumpets in B-flat and F, 3 trombones, tuba
- percussion: timpani, bass drum, snare drum, cymbals, triangle, tam-tam, whip, glockenspiel
- strings: harp, violins I, II, violas, violoncellos, double basses
1The part is written for a clarinet in D in the score, but as this instrument is now virtually obsolete, almost all clarinetists play this part on an E flat clarinet. In the Critical Edition of the score published in 2001 (see below), the editors have the second player taking the E flat clarinet part with the third doubling on bass clarinet only.
2Mahler uses a solo obligato horn in the Scherzo. This is not counted as a seventh horn because only four other horns play in that movement.
2Mahler uses a solo obligato horn in the Scherzo. This is not counted as a seventh horn because only four other horns play in that movement.
Revisions of the score[edit]
The score appeared first in print in 1904 at Peters, Leipzig. A second "New edition", incorporating revisions that Mahler made in 1904, appeared in 1905. Final revisions made by Mahler in 1911 did not appear until 1964 (ed. Ratz), when the score was re-published in the Complete Edition of Mahler's works. In 2001, Edition Peters published a further revised edition (ed. Kubik) as part of the New Complete Critical Edition Series. This edition is the most accurate edition available so far. Previous editions have now gone out of print.
Structure[edit]
The work is in five movements:
- Trauermarsch (Funeral March). In gemessenem Schritt. Streng. Wie ein Kondukt (C-sharp minor)
- Stürmisch bewegt, mit größter Vehemenz (Moving stormily, with the greatest vehemence) (A minor)
- Scherzo. Kräftig, nicht zu schnell (Not too fast, strong) (D major)
- Adagietto. Sehr langsam (Very slow) (F major)
- Rondo-Finale. Allegro - Allegro giocoso. Frisch (Fresh) (D major)
The first two movements constitute Part I of the symphony (as designated by Mahler in the score), the long Scherzo constitutes Part II, and the last two movements constitute Part III.
The piece is generally regarded as Mahler's most conventional symphony up to that point, but from such an unconventional composer it still had many peculiarities. It almost has a four movement structure, as the first two can easily be viewed as essentially a whole. The symphony also ends with aRondo, in the classical style. Some peculiarities are the funeral march that opens the piece and theAdagietto for harp and strings that contrasts with the complex orchestration of the other movements.
A performance of the work lasts around 70 minutes.
Adagietto[edit]
The fourth movement may be Mahler's most famous composition and is the most frequently performed of his works. The British premiere of the Fifth Symphony came thirty-six years after that of the Adagietto, conducted by Henry Wood at a Proms concert in 1909. Leonard Bernstein conducted it during the funeral Mass for Robert Kennedy at St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York, on 8 June 1968.[3]It was used in the 1971 Luchino Visconti film Death in Venice.
It is said to represent Mahler's love song to Alma. According to a letter she wrote to Willem Mengelberg, the composer left a small poem: "Wie ich dich liebe, Du meine Sonne, ich kann mit Worten Dir's nicht sagen. Nur meine Sehnsucht kann ich Dir klagen und meine Liebe. (How much I love you, you my sun, I cannot tell you that with words. I can only lament to you my longing and love.)"[4]
It lasts for approximately 10 minutes, and Mahler's instruction is sehr langsam (very slowly). Mahler and Mengelberg played it in about 7 minutes.[4] Some conductors have taken tempos that extend it to nearly 12 minutes (viz. recordings by Eliahu Inbal, Herbert von Karajan, and Claudio Abbado), whileSimon Rattle with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra performed it in 9½ minutes. Bernstein also briefly discusses this section along with the opening bars of the 2nd movement in his Charles Eliot Norton lectures from 1973.
The Adagietto has been used by figure skaters. Ekaterina Gordeeva commemorated her deceased husband, Sergei Grinkov, at the 1996 "Celebration of a Life". Ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, from Canada, performed their free dance at both the 2010 Winter Olympics and the 2010 World Championships, winning the gold medal at both events.
Composition[edit]
Mahler wrote his fifth symphony during the summers of 1901 and 1902. In February 1901 Mahler had suffered a sudden major hemorrhaging and his doctor later told him that he had come within an hour of bleeding to death. The composer spent quite a while recuperating. He moved into his own lakeside villa in the southern Austrian province of Carinthia in June 1901. Mahler was delighted with his new-found status as the owner of a grand villa. According to friends, he could hardly believe how far he had come from his humble beginnings. He was Director of the Vienna Court Opera and the principal conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic. His own music was also starting to be successful. Later in 1901 when he met Alma Schindler and by the time he returned to his summer villa in summer 1902, they were married and she was expecting their first child.
Symphonies five, six and seven, which all belong to this period, have much in common and are markedly different from the first four, which all have strong links to vocal music. The middle symphonies, by contrast, are pure orchestral works and are, by Mahler’s standards, taut and lean.
Counterpoint also becomes a more important element in Mahler’s music from the fifth symphony onwards. The ability to write good counterpoint was highly cherished by Baroque composers andJohann Sebastian Bach is regarded as the greatest composer of contrapuntal music. Bach played an important part in Mahler's musical life at this time. He subscribed to the edition of Bach's collected works that was being published at the turn of the century, and later conducted and arranged works by Bach for performance. Mahler's renewed interest in counterpoint can best be heard in the third and the final movements of the fifth symphony.
Premieres[edit]
Reaction[edit]
- After its premiere, Mahler is reported to have said, 'Nobody understood it. I wish I could conduct the first performance fifty years after my death.'
- Herbert von Karajan once said that when you hear Mahler's Fifth, 'you forget that time has passed. A great performance of the Fifth is a transforming experience. The fantastic finale almost forces you to hold your breath.'
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