|
My first contact with Mahler, as a youth of sixteen,
came from Symphony No.5 in C-sharp minor. At that point in
time, I found it to be too pessimistic-sounding and intense for
a ear accustomed more to the standard repertoire one surveys while
learning classical music. Seven years down the line, I rediscovered
Mahler while listening to an archived recording of Mahler's Symphony
No. 1 under the BBC "Discovering Music Library Archive".
I admired his innovative way of interweaving his
philosophy into his work, and use of various orchestral sections
to iterate the motifs that serve to emphasise his theme for the
movement. But the crowning experience came from witnessing it 'live'-
Benjamin Zander executing to the audience a work that is the embodiment
of the very essence and fully developed maturity of Mahler, his
Ninth Symphony. It was definitely a very thought-provoking
and soul-stirring experience for me, so much so that I did not even
notice that the work featured for nearly 90 minutes, which speaks
volumes for Mahler, Zander and the MPO.
 The
first movement, to quote Bruno Walter (the first conductor to ever
premiere Mahler's Ninth) is:
"a tragic, strangely moving, noble paraphrase of farewell
emotions. An unparalled hovering between the sadness of leave-taking
and the vision of heavenly light (not floating fantasy, rather immediate
emotions) lifts the movement into an atmosphere of transfiguration."1
I particularly liked the use of the three-tone motif to introduce
the movement, the very mellifluous main theme (in D major) that would
later take on variegated forms, the most prominent being the contrasting
theme in D minor, and how it interspersed with the five climaxes scattered
throughout this piece. The three-tone motif provided the binary of
respite and anticipation, with its use of contrast, and together with
the main theme, provided the platform for the climaxes to grow.
All these musical elements came together to achieve
a memorable 'last stand' movement, where Mahler poured forth his
agonies, philosophy, ruminations and constant battles that he had
been having spiritually (being a Catholic Jew). Knowing his time
on earth is almost up and pouring as much of his creative genius
into this work as he could, fearing that this would be his last.
As the orchestra rose and fell to the conductor's baton, the audience
experienced the building up of euphoria, culminating in the loudest
of all, the fifth climax.
Yet I didn't get to hear it with the MPO in a way
I thought it would; nonetheless, the ending of the first movement
by the harp provided a soothing, though uneasy, peace to the movement,
with echoes of unearthly violins and violas still reverberating
through our minds. This was also the longest movement among all
the movements (equivalent in length to Beethoven's Fifth Symphony).
The second movement was very dance-like, a harmonic
appeasement to the more foreboding first movement. There's also
a subtle vulgarity in its slow formation to a waltz, played to near-perfection
by the orchestra, with thrills in different transpositions prominent
throughout this movement. The façade of light-heartedness is maintained
whilst thoughts of impending death permeated the piece. It is said
here that all of Mahler's dance styles are represented in this movement.
 The
third movement, to me, was more obliquely burlesque than the second,
parodying perhaps the emotions and styles of the previous two movements.
The orchestra gave it a subliminally acidic and satirical preface
with capricious brass and woodwinds. There was also a beautifully
serene string passage that spoke of desire for a beautiful dream-like
world, unattainable, with the woodwinds counterpointing the strings,
and the purposeful discordant phrasings of the clarinets with the
oboes. It moved from furious urgency to melancholia, a realization
(by Mahler) that all striving is grasping at straws. The piece moved
from high tension and urgency to pensiveness, to a climax that abruptly
ended at a point of frenzy.
In the final movement, we know of Mahler's foreboding
that the end is inevitable. This was heralded by a very moving introduction
by the orchestra. The woebegone-ness is seductive and the passion
uninhibited. The uniqueness of this piece, to quote Floros, and
to which I agree, is the idea of contrast being pushed to the limit;
contrasting in their (major-minor) mode, harmonization, dynamics
(with its ppp and fff within the same phrase) and character of expression.
We could hear in this movement Mahler's longing
for his beloved dead child and longing for a wife he knew he would
soon leave. The first violins and cellos provided the two-voice
phrase of the main melodic theme. The principal violinist and first
viola player alternated to provide the unforgettable melody of chamber
music sound. Passage after passage was filled with unquiet rest
and we were never allowed to forget the premonition of death. The
soft passages on the harp, taken up by the violin, reminisced earlier
passages and echoed the Kindertotenlieder, which was composed
in 1904 around the time of his Sixth Symphony and shocked
Alma Mahler, his wife (who exclaimed "For heaven's sake, don't tempt
providence!"2)
In the finality, the orchestra once more transcended
itself. The passion of the finale left me scarcely breathing as
not to allow a note pass unnoticed. Zander brought Mahler back to
live, and within this mechanistic and postmodernist century, its
ecclesiastical elegies still rings true for me.
1 Floros,
Constantin. Gustav Mahler: The Symphonies. Trans. Vernon Wicker.
Wiesbaden: Scolar Press, 1994. 275.
2 Mahler,
Alma. Gustav Mahler: Memories and Letters. Trans. Basil Creighton.
Ed. Donald Mitchell. John Murray:London, 1973. 70.
Clarissa Lee
learns the meaning of beauty in life through Mahler's last symphony
Photo of Benjamin Zander taken from the Benjamin
Zander webpage
10.10.2002
© Clarissa
All
original texts are copyrighted. Please seek permission from the
Classical Editor
if you wish to reproduce/quote Inkpot material.
|
