Listening Guide – Movement 1: Allegro energico, ma non troppo
Transcript In this extensive first movement, which lasts nearly half an hour, Mahler presents the positive characteristics of his hero in the full bloom of life, strength, vigor, courage, endurance, steadfastness, and passion. Marshall rhythms symbolize his powerful stride, the romantic second theme, in which Mahler is said to have depicted his wife Alma expresses […]
Listening Guide – Symphony No. 6 Intro
Transcript The Sixth Symphony has long been considered Mahler’s most personal expression of fatalism. The three hammer blows originally in the finale, which were reduced to two after the first publication, represents strokes of fate, the last of which fells the hero, who is undaunted courage, in the face of inevitable tragedy, is characterized in […]
Listening Guide – Movement 5: Rondo-Finale. Allegro – Allegro giocoso. Frisch
Transcript In the finale, Mahler attempts to resolve the conflicts and answer the existential questions presented in the proceeding movements, the thematic and motivic interconnections with each of the earlier movements make the finale the focal point of the symphony. Mahler offers a wealth of musical material here, whether newly conceived or called from other […]