Some recommended recordings: it is hard to beat the swells and jolting introductory “motion” of the Trauermarsch by the Bernstein New York Philharmonic recording on Columbia, but the second movement doesn’t hold up as well as I remember. In general, it is very flatly recorded, though the finale is good. His later Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra recording on Deutsche Grammophon is actually pretty good: a little slower than the earlier NYP recording but it doesn’t drag, especially in the first and fourth movements where it could have. Georg Solti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on Decca has a really good first movement-- it's really impassioned, as good as Bernstein's NYP, a very chaotic second movement with harsh brass in a good way, a solid performance throughout. I've listened to both Gustavo Dudamel performances: the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra on Deutsche Grammophon is good, though not very polished, the second movement is too rushed, then Dudamel gives us a botched pace on both the second movement's triumphant chorale and throughout the third movement, the fourth movement Adagietto is good and not too fast, and Dudamel appears to save things in the finale -- ether way, this is not the Dudamel and SBYO of BBC Proms Resurrection Symphony lore! then his later outing with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra on Deutsche Grammophon has much better balance, it's a solid performance-- I’m not sure if it’s the BPO or more years of experience from Dudamel that is the contributing factor here. Then, we have a new recording from Dudamel acolyte Rafael Payare with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal on Pentatone which is better than Dudamel’s first outing and practically as good as his second recording! It's a very bold, experimental take by Payare on the finale – but it works and the pupil has learned a lot! I was not expecting much with Claudio Abbado and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra on Deutsche Grammophon -- I knock Abbado for being very academic, but here he shines through, it's possible this recording is his masterpiece work of conducting. His master timekeeper ethos benefits this symphony where less diligent attention can make the pace and momentum fall apart. The fourth movement Adagietto is the right tempo and the fifth movement is an interesting interpretation, more stately than others. Bruno Walter and the New York Philharmonic on Columbia gives us a much faster performance, but it doesn’t feel too fast -- in fact, it actually feels refreshing! The first movement still has a good pace even if it is faster than I've heard it played before. Water is one of the few links to Mahler while he was alive and has some insight into what the composer was thinking and doing at the time of the creation of this music. And he's one of the few people who play the fourth movement Adagietto at the correct tempo -- his is the only recording I have found so far that does this properly. Read more under the Adagietto commentary to hear why! And, for a recording from 1947, it still sounds really good!
Mahler's Fifth Symphony was a break from his earlier “Wunderhorn” period -- it’s start of his middle period and a return to non-vocal symphonies. It’s also a break in that it no longer has any vestiges of being a programmatic symphony: it is absolute music, not even a nickname or title! (if anyone knows a nickname for this symphony, let me know) At one time, this was my favorite Mahler symphony! There is much to love and appreciate here: it's both accessible and complex, pulling off developments and recapitulations that are more subtle and more complex than his previous symphonies. The symphony is divided into three parts: the first part is the first two movements, then the lone scherzo comprising the second part, and then the third part made up of the last two movements.
Part I, First Movement: Trauermarsch What a great movement! The solo trumpet opening is oh so, so good, one of the best Mahler moments ever, and then the orchestra explodes with a call and response as the main funeral march motif develops and progresses! This movement seems like a more mature reexamination of the opening Totenfeier march from his Second Symphony. I read some commentary highlighting that the opening three note motif here echoes Beethoven’s own Fifth Symphony! I never noticed that before! And listening closely now for this post, I notice how the brass trills remind me of the bassoon trills in the first movement of his Third Symphony. Mahler gives us some great development and swell while revisiting the opening solo trumpet motif over the orchestra which goes full with a new smoother trumpet motif that cuts back to the funeral march. Interjections of a calmer more pastoral motif later on, again call to mind the Second Symphony’s first movement calmer sections. Halfway through movement, there's a great mini climax and then return to the solemn orchestral response to the opening trumpet solo. The end of the movement recapitulates some of the musical ideas from the beginning of the movement as it slowly decrescendos and gives us a new musical idea on the strings, that I am now just noticing seems to hint at motives from the finale of the Sixth Symphony! The trumpet solo motif is passed around to woodwinds as the movement fades out.
Second Movement: Stürmisch Bewegt. Mit Grösster Vehemenz - This is definitely stormy and dramatic! After the storm and bustle of the start, the first movement's “sighing motif” appears here again somewhere, I think as a descending motif? But now it's calmer, punctuated with bursts of wind instrument notes. Then Mahler is back to a recapitulation of the opening storm motif, before a new quieter part enters, and then a return to the unsettled calm motif of before. Next, a more playful section that is a development/recapitulation of – what?! It sounds so familiar! If you know what this playful section is riffing off and referencing, let me know! Then back to the storm motif and now a very elegant string motif floats over the orchestra before being interrupted with crashes of the storm. Some more development, then the movement very abruptly changes gears and belts out an extremely triumphant chorale that will later be reprised in the finale and fully resolved there, while here, it regally and mysteriously fades out. Then we go back to the storm motif with more development and the movement peters out, almost like a real life rainstorm.
Part II, Third Movement: scherzo, ländler, and waltz. We get our Mahlerian dance movement finally! The opening of the movement with the horns reminds me of something else (maybe another Wunderhorn symphony motif he has revisited here and improved upon?) In a very clear dance style, we hear another dance melody or two as Mahler's dance movement kaleidoscopically changes gradually. A leap from the ländlers of his earlier years! Then a horn solo interrupts, leading to a slower, more plaintive section of the movement, with pizzicato strings. Is Mahler reflecting critically on the mindless pleasures of fin de siecle Viennese society, as symbolized by the earlier dance motives? A quick string part that is reminiscent of the types of idiosyncrasies Shostakovich would later insert into his work appears. Then Mahler returns to the unaccompanied plaintive horn solo, combined with frenzied string interjections. Now, new, blaring brass interjections appear, as we have moved very far away from the dance motives of earlier in the movement. There is a hint at the opening motif in the close and we have a jaunty, playful end to the movement. This is a long scherzo, as well as the longest movement of the symphony, clocking in at approximately 17 minutes!
Part, III, Fourth Movement: the hugely famous Adagietto. It almost needs no introduction, probably Mahler's most famous piece of music. Bruno Walter, who was very close to Mahler (he either conducted some premieres or other early performances of his symphonies?) thought that the movement gets played too slowly. We imagine the Adagietto is supposed to be some sort of sad, elegiac piece of music, maybe because it rose to prominence through the 1971 Luchino Visconti film Death in Venice, which is was featured in, or how Bernstein played it at RFK's funeral. But in fact, the movement is actually a love note to his wife Alma, so Walter makes sure to keep the tempo up, since it is an expression of Mahler's true love for his wife. The tempo that Walter adopts is supposedly similar to how Mahler would pace the movement when he was conducting it himself! Most conductors are too slow -- this slowness is not in line with what Mahler did in practice or envisioned. What more can be said about this movement? A wonderful opening with ethereal harp strums and then the strings enter (this is a strings only movement) and continue. We get multiple swells of the strings and dark parts in the middle of the movement, expressing some sort of anguish or pain. But then we are given a cathartic uplift towards the end of the movement, with all the strings at full power, to wash over the listener. As Alma mentioned later to conductor Willem Mengelberg, Mahler left her a poem accompanying the movement:
In which way I love you, my sunbeam,
I cannot tell you with words.
Only my longing, my love and my bliss
can I with anguish declare.
Fifth Movement: The Rondo-Finale. The movement opens with a horn call and pastoral mood, reminiscent of his Wunderhorn era, but it has matured and become more complex here. Then a new motif starts with that horn, which is then passed to woodwinds and strings and develops further from strings back to brass (I think, the complexity of the development in this movement is insane). We hear the opening horn motif get developed and built upon by the whole orchestra. The final movement throughout actually has nods back to the second movement -- you hear a motif try to break through repeatedly and at last, we hear what it is: the movement resolves that foreshadowed triumphant chorale that we had heard earlier from the second movement, finally resounding and fulfilled! However, it always makes me sad to hear it here. Why? Even though it’s clearly triumphant, you can hear a twinge of bittersweetness and wistful swell up in the chorale before it breaks, which is how you know the final part of the finale is coming. And then we have the celebratory gallop to the symphony’s whirlwind of a conclusion. Mahler almost forgets how to end the symphony with all the craziness, build up, and elongated finale (again, this is similar to the extended finale of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, providing symmetry to the three note motif at the start!). Also, you can’t help but hear some inspiration for John Williams in the playful notes in the last bar or so of the finale! In addition, that bittersweet moment immediately after the triumphant chorale is recapitulated is what makes the wild finale very cathartic. I can’t help but feel reminded of the ending of Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony with its “forced celebration”, though here the emotion feels sincere. Even though it is a joyous ending, I feel there is a subversive cathartic undertone, and that can’t help me think of Shostakovich at the same time as Beethoven. I don’t have the commentary of Embrace Everything to rely on! But the chaotic nature of the end could be a nod to his tumultuous relationship with his wife Alma (which was explored in the fourth movement as well). What an exhilarating end to an amazing symphony. What a way to kick off the Middle Period!
And links to my preferred recordings:
- Leonard Bernstein, NYP, Columbia
- Bernstein, VPO, Deutsche Grammophon
- Georg Solti, CSO, Decca
- Gustavo Dudamel, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, DG
- Rafael Payare, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Pentatone
- Claudio Abbado, BPO, DG
- Bruno Walter, NYP, Columbia
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