Listening Guide – Movement 2: Im Temp eines gemächlichen Landlers. Etwas täppisch und sehr derb
Transcript In the second movement Mahler once again indulges his penchant for parody for the use of popular dance music as a parable to the societal decadence of his time. He does not just offer dances such as the Waltz, Ländler and minuet as light entertainment, but opposes them in combat, thereby mirroring the battle […]
Listening Guide – Movement 1: Andante comodo
Transcript Typical of Mahler symphonies, the first movement presents a conflict between theme groups that function as antagonists, which builds to a cataclysmic climax, after which resolution remains uncertain. The dualism of subject matter is presented as the substance of an existential crisis of the human spirit, as it faces modern life. Two principal subjects […]
Listening Guide – Symphony No. 9 Intro
Transcript With the Ninth Mahler returns to a purely orchestral Symphony, after having succeeded in integrating chorus and orchestra in his Eighth, and the genres of the song cycle and Symphony and Das Lied von der Erde, Mahler turns his attention to the purely abstract orchestral music of his middle period symphonies to express the […]