Gustav Mahler (1860–1911)

Symphony No. 2 in C minor “Resurrection” Arrangement for Small Orchestra by Gilbert Kaplan and Rob Mathes

1 I. Allegro maestoso 23’29 2 II. Andante moderato 10’56 3 III. In ruhig fließender Bewegung 10’47 4 IV. “Urlicht” (from Des Knaben Wunderhorn) 5’19 5 V. Im Tempo des Scherzos 36’08

Total Time: 86’39

Marlis Petersen soprano Janina Baechle mezzo-soprano Wiener Singakademie (Chorus Master: Heinz Ferlesch) Wiener KammerOrchester Gilbert Kaplan

2 Arrangement for Small Orchestra by Gilbert Kaplan and Rob Mathes

The Kaplan/Mathes arrangement of Mahler’s Second Symphony for small orchestra (K/M) is an initiative of the Kaplan Foundation which for more than 25 years has been one of the leading institutions engaged in Mahler research, publications, exhibitions and recordings. The Foundation’s work has been recognized through numerous awards and prizes. With orchestra requirements about half of what Mahler indicated, K/M provides an opportunity for chamber orchestras, small community orchestras and regional opera orchestras to perform this work which normally requires more than 100 musicians. Although K/M calls for a smaller orchestra than Mahler intended, it is nonetheless a substantial orchestra about the same size as Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony or Brahms’s First Symphony. Significantly, the K/M orchestra is only slightly smaller than Mahler indicated when he originally composed the first movement, at one time titled Todtenfeier (Rites of the Dead). The size of the string section will be determined by each orchestra. On this recording there are 10 first violins, 8 second violins, 6 violas, 6 cellos and 4 basses. Beyond strings, Mahler calls for 50 musicians to K/M’s 22. However, eight of Mahler’s instruments are the four horns and trumpets that are played principally offstage. The table on the following page provides more detail on comparative instrumentation. As a point of departure, K/M draws on the New Critical Edition of the Second Symphony for which Gilbert Kaplan and Renate Stark-Voit served as Editors. K/M is faithful to Mahler’s intentions: all principal themes and passages are led by the instruments Mahler selected. The arrangement also maintains the orchestral color Mahler indicated. As just one example, consider K/M’s treatment of the horns. Although Mahler calls for six horns in the orchestra, he usually writes no more than three different notes at one time. Therefore all horn notes can usually be covered by the three horns in K/M. Where another instrument is assigned to play a horn part, it is usually either a trombone, trumpet or bassoon that easily blends with the three horns. But these substitutions are rare – in only 108 measures (5% of 2,157 measures in the symphony). The same pattern is true for the other instruments. Mahler was active in creating arrangements of other composers’ works including a version of Bruckner’s Third Symphony for piano four-hands, and a suite combining movements from two different Bach Suites into a single work (adding a modified piano as a substitute for the continuo harpsichord). He also often substantially changed the instrumentation and dynamics in symphonies he was conducting, including works by Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert and Schumann as well as operas by Mozart, Verdi, Wagner and Weber. He also created works for string orchestras from string quartets: Schubert’s D minor (“Der Tod und das Mädchen”) and Beethoven’s No. 11 in F minor (Op.95), also adding new parts for basses. Many arrangements for small ensembles of Mahler’s works have been created. Best known, most performed and recorded is Arnold Schoenberg’s (completed by Rainer Riehn) arrangement of Das Lied von der Erde.

3 Instruments Mahler: Kaplan/ Todtenfeier Beethoven: Brahms: Full Score Mathes Mahler’s Fifth Sym. First Sym. Original First Movt.

Flute 4 2 332 Oboe 4 2 222 Clarinet 5 2 222 Bassoon 4 2 333

Horn 10* 3 424 Trumpet 10* 3 322 Trombones 4 2 333 Tuba 1 1 100

Harp 2 1 100 Timpani 2 1 111 Percussion 3 2 200 Organ 1 1 000

TOTAL 50 22 25 18 19

*Four horns and trumpets play principally offstage in the last movement.

4 Fassung für kleines Orchester von Gilbert Kaplan und Rob Mathes

Das Kaplan/Mathes-Arrangement von Mahlers zweiter Sinfonie für Kammerorchester („K/M“) ist eine Initiative der Kaplan-Stiftung, die seit mehr als 25 Jahren eine der führenden Institutionen in der Mahler-Forschung sowie der Herstellung von Publikationen, Ausstellungen und Aufnahmen Mahlers ist. Die Stiftung ist für ihre Verdienste mit vielen Auszeichnungen und Preisen geehrt worden. Da das Orchester nur ungefähr halb so groß ist wie Mahler vorgab, erlaubt K/M Kammerorchestern, kleinen Gemeindeorchestern und regionalen Opernorchestern dieses Werk aufzuführen, für das normalerweise über hundert Musiker erforderlich sind. Zwar genügt für K/M ein kleineres Orchester, als Mahler dies ursprünglich vorsah, doch ist es immer noch ein umfangreiches Orchester mit ungefähr derselben Anzahl von Musikern wie bei Beethovens fünfter Sinfonie oder Brahms’ erster Sinfonie. Wichtig ist, dass die Größe des K/M Orchesters nur etwas kleiner ist, als es Mahler bei der Komposition des ersten Satzes ursprünglich vorsah, der zu diesem Zeitpunkt den Titel „Todtenfeier“ trug. Die Anzahl der Streicher wird vom jeweiligen Orchester bestimmt. Die vorliegende Aufnahme hat 10 Erste Violinen, 8 Zweite Violinen, 6 Violen, 6 Violoncellos und 4 Kontrabässe. Zusätzlich zu den Streichern verlangt Mahler 50 Musiker, während K/M nur 22 benötigt. Allerdings sind acht von Mahlers Instrumenten die vier Hörner und Trompeten, die hauptsächlich hinter den Kulissen gespielt werden. Die Tabelle auf der folgenden Seite zeigt Details der Instrumentation. K/M beruft sich auf die Neue kritische Gesamtausgabe der zweiten Sinfonie, die Gilbert Kaplan und Renate Stark-Voit vorgelegt haben. K/M bleibt Mahlers Absichten treu: alle Hauptthemen and Passagen werden von den Instrumenten geführt, die Mahler ausgewählt hat. Das Arrangement erhält auch Mahlers orchestrale Farben. Ein Beispiel ist die Behandlung der Hörner in K/M. Obwohl Mahler sechs Hörner im Orchester verlangt, schreibt er meist nicht mehr als drei verschiedene Noten gleichzeitig. Daher können alle Hornnoten in K/M fast immer von den drei Hörnern gespielt werden. Ist ein anderes Instrument für eine Hornstimme vorgesehen, ist es entweder eine Posaune, eine Trompete oder ein Fagott, das mit den drei Hörnern leicht harmoniert. Diese Substitutionen sind aber selten. Sie kommen lediglich in 108 Takten (5% der 2.157 Takte der Symphonie) vor. Das gleiche Muster gilt auch für die anderen Instrumente. Mahler bearbeitete viele Werke anderer Komponisten, unter anderem auch eine Version der dritten Sinfonie Bruckners für Klavier zu vier Händen, und eine Suite, die Sätze aus zwei verschiedenen Bach-Suiten in ein einziges Oeuvre vereinigte (indem er ein modifiziertes Klavier als Substitution für das Continuo-Cembalo hinzufügte). Häufig veränderte er auch die Instrumentation und die Dynamik in den Sinfonien, die er dirigierte, darunter Werke von Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert und Schumann sowie Opern von Mozart, Verdi, Wagner und Weber. Aus Streichquartetten schuf er Stücke für Streichorchester: Schuberts d-moll („Der Tod und das Mädchen“) und Beethovens Nr. 11 f-moll op. 95, bei denen er neue Partien für Kontrabässe hinzufügte. Es gibt viele Arrangements von Mahlers Werken für kleine Ensembles. Am bekanntesten und am häufigsten aufgeführt und aufgenommen ist Arnold Schoenbergs Arrangement des Werks Das Lied von der Erde (vollendet von Rainer Riehn).

5 Instrumente Mahler: Kaplan/ Todtenfeier Beethoven: Brahms: Partitur Mathes Mahlers Fünfte Sinf. Erste Sinf. Orig. Erster Satz

Flöte 4 2 332 Oboe 4 2 222 Klarinette 5 2 222 Fagott 4 2 333

Horn 10* 3 424 Trompete 10* 3 322 Posaune 4 2 333 Basstuba 1 1 100

Harfe 2 1 100 Pauke 2 1 111 Perkussion 3 2 200 Orgel 1 1 000

GESAMT 50 22 25 18 19

*Vier Hörner und Trompeten spielen im letzten Satz hauptsächlich hinter den Kulissen.

6 Arrangement pour petit orchestre par Gilbert Kaplan et Rob Mathes

L’arrangement pour petit orchestre de la Deuxième Symphonie de Mahler par Kaplan/Mathes (K/M) est une initiative de la Fondation Kaplan, qui depuis plus de vingt-cinq ans est l’une des principales institutions engagées dans la recherche sur Mahler, les publications, les expositions et les enregistrements de sa musique. Le travail de cette fondation a été récompensé par de nombreux prix et récompenses. Grâce à un effectif d’orchestre de moitié inférieur à celui que Mahler avait prévu, K/M donne la possibilité aux orchestres de chambre, aux orchestres des petites villes et aux orchestres d’opéras régionaux d’interpréter cette œuvre qui exige normalement plus de cent musiciens. Cependant, même si l’orchestre prescrit par K/M est plus restreint que celui d’origine, il n’en reste pas moins une formation considérable, de la même taille à peu près que celui de la Cinquième Symphonie de Beethoven ou de la Première Symphonie de Brahms. On notera que l’orchestre de K/M est à peine plus réduit que celui que Mahler avait voulu lorsqu’il avait composé la pièce qui deviendrait plus tard le premier mouvement de la symphonie et qu’il avait alors intitulée Todtenfeier (Cérémonie funèbre). L’effectif des cordes sera fixé par chaque orchestre. Pour le présent enregistrement, nous avons opté pour 10 premiers violons, 8 seconds violons, 6 altos, 6 violoncelles et 4 contrebasses. Outre les cordes, Mahler faisait appel à 50 musiciens, et K/M 22. Cependant, huit des instruments de Mahler sont les quatre cors et quatre trompettes qui jouent principalement en coulisses. Le tableau sur la page suivante fournit davantage de détails sur l’instrumentation comparée. K/M prend comme point de départ la nouvelle édition critique de la Deuxième Symphonie, à laquelle Gilbert Kaplan et Renate Stark-Voit ont participé en tant que relecteurs-correcteurs. K/M est fidèle aux intentions de Mahler : tous les thèmes et passages principaux sont menés par les instruments choisis par Mahler. L’arrangement garde également la couleur orchestrale voulue par le compositeur. Prenons par exemple le traitement des cors : bien que Mahler exige la présence de six cors dans l’orchestre, il ne prévoit généralement pas plus de trois notes différentes en même temps. Toutes les notes confiées aux cors peuvent donc en règle générale être exécutées par les trois cors de K/M. Quand un autre instrument est désigné pour jouer une partie prévue pour le cor, c’est généralement un trombone, une trompette ou un basson, qui se marie bien avec le timbre des trois cors. Cependant, ces substitutions sont rares – elles se produisent dans 108 mesures seulement, c’est-à-dire 5% des 2.157 mesures de l’ensemble. Le même schéma s’applique au traitement des autres instruments. Mahler réalisa lui-même des arrangements d’œuvres d’autres compositeurs, parmi lesquels une version de la Troisième Symphonie de Bruckner pour piano à quatre mains, ainsi qu’une suite reprenant en un seul ouvrage plusieurs mouvements de deux Suites de Bach (il ajouta une partie pour piano modifié qui remplace le clavecin de la basse continue). Il lui arrivait aussi souvent de remanier considérablement l’instrumentation et les nuances des symphonies qu’il dirigeait, qu’il s’agisse d’œuvres de Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert et Schumann ou d’opéras de Mozart, Verdi, Wagner et Weber. Il créa par ailleurs des œuvres pour orchestre à cordes à partir de quatuors à cordes : le Quatuor en ré mineur de Schubert (« La Jeune Fille et la Mort ») et le Quatuor en fa mineur no11 (op.95) de Beethoven, auquel il ajouta de nouvelles parties pour les instruments graves. Il existe de nombreux arrangements pour petits ensembles des œuvres de Mahler. Le mieux connu et le plus souvent joué et enregistré est celui de Das Lied von der Erde (Le Chant de la Terre), réalisé par Arnold Schoenberg et complété par Rainer Riehn. Traduction : Sophie Liwszyc

7 Instruments Mahler: Kaplan/ Todtenfeier Beethoven: Brahms: Partition Mathes Premier Cinquième Première intégrale mouvement Symphonie Symphonie original de Mahler

Flûtes 4 2 332 Hautbois 4 2 222 Clarinettes 5 2 222 Bassons 4 2 333

Cors 10* 3 424 Trompettes 10* 3 322 Trombones 4 2 333 Tubas 1 1 100

Harpes 2 1 100 Timbales 2 1 111 Percussions 3 2 200 Orgue 1 1 000

TOTAL 50 22 25 18 19

*Quatre cors et quatre trompettes jouent principalement en coulisses dans le dernier mouvement.

8 Birth of the Resurrection Symphony

While practically all of Mahler’s symphonies were composed during one or two summers, it took the composer six years to complete his second symphony. He was only 27 when he composed the first movement, which he said took place at a funeral (Todtenfeier) where mourners are confronted with fundamental questions. “What next? Why were we born? Will we live on eternally? Do our life and death have a meaning?” Mahler said that anyone into whose life these questions come must one day give an answer. Mahler gives his answer in the last movement. Why it took Mahler six years to complete the symphony is not known. One can only speculate on some factors contributing to the long delay. Mahler may have been afflicted with a case of “composer’s block”, perhaps stemming from the problem of how to follow the massive first movement, both a musical and programmatic challenge, because the first movement is a funeral. How do you follow that story in the second movement? A funeral is normally the end of a story. The duration of the block may have been extended by an encounter in 1891 with Hans von Bülow, the leading conductor in Hamburg and a champion of new music. Bülow invited Mahler to play Todtenfeier on the piano, but after listening declared: “If that is still music, then I do not understand a single thing about music.” One should not underestimate the wound this rejection must have caused, nor its negative impact on Mahler’s composing, especially coming from a man he so admired. In the following year, 1892, still unable to make any further progress on this symphony, Mahler focused on lieder, composing a new series of songs with texts from Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Youth’s Magic Horn), a popular collection of folk poetry compiled by Achim von Armin and Clemens Brentano. From two of those songs, Urlicht (Primal Light) and Des Antonius von Padua Fischpredigt (Antony of Padua’s Sermon to the Fish), Mahler created a pair of movements of the Second Symphony. (Later Mahler would describe all three middle movements as “intermezzi” standing both musically and programmatically between the epic Todtenfeier first movement and the glorious “Resurrection” finale.) Urlicht is about innocent faith (“I am from God and will return to God”), while Fischpredigt is a charming tale about St Anthony who goes to church to preach, only to find it empty. Undeterred, he decides to visit a river bank and deliver his sermon to the fish with a message to stop sinning. Alas all in vain: the fish listen attentively but pay no heed to his message and return to their sinning ways. At this point, after a five-year hiatus, Mahler finally returned to the symphony. His completion of the piano version of Fischpredigt in 1893, the day after his 33rd birthday, triggered a burst of composition that produced all three middle movements within three weeks. First Mahler transformed Fischpredigt – eliminating the vocal part, adding new music and the orchestration – into a scherzo that would become the third movement. Mahler said the Scherzo depicted the world as distorted, as if reflected in a concave mirror. Life then becomes meaningless and one cries out in a “scream of anguish”. Three days later, Mahler completed the orchestration for Urlicht. Eventually it became the fourth movement, for alto voice. Mahler was the first composer to incorporate an independent song as a movement of a symphony. Mahler next turned to the Andante which would become the second movement, a Mozart-like dance movement. Mahler explained that the Andante represented a flashback: “A memory! A ray of sunlight, pure and cloudless” from the life of the loved one whose funeral took place in the first movement. It required only one week for Mahler to complete the Andante. With the middle movements completed, Mahler made an attempt at the finale but was unable to make any progress. There matters rested until the death of Hans von Bülow. Bülow’s memorial service on March 29, 1894 was the catalyst that enabled Mahler to overcome his composing

9 block for the finale. If Bülow’s brutal remarks about Todtenfeier had helped undermine Mahler’s confidence in the work, ironically it was Bülow’s death – and his memorial service – that provided the inspiration for the finale. Mahler had already decided to include a chorus in the finale. The problem was finding a text. He had already searched world literature and the Bible without success. And he was also nervous he’d be accused of copying Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, which also included a chorus only in the last movement. Bülow’s service in St Michael’s Church in Hamburg provided the answer. Mahler described what happened.

Bülow died, and I went to the memorial service. The mood in which I sat and pondered on the departed was utterly in the spirit of what I was working on at the time. Then the choir, up in the organ-loft, intoned Klopstock’s Resurrection chorale. It flashed on me like lightning, and everything became plain and clear in my mind! It was the flash that all creative artists wait for.

The idea of “resurrection” provided an ideal programmatic resolution of the Todtenfeier first movement. Mahler ultimately used only the first two stanzas of Klopstock and wrote the remainder of the text himself. After the creative “flash” produced by Bülow’s service, composition went quickly. Within a month, the first draft of the finale was ready. When the full symphony was completed by the end of the year, Mahler was astounded to discover that the work had grown to three times the length he had originally planned. The finale has no musical structure, but is a series of episodes with huge contrasts in dynamics, tempo and color. All this was designed to advance Mahler’s story. After the nostalgia of the second movement, the “scream of anguish” in the third and the song about faith in the fourth, the plot takes a surprising turn. The last movement opens with a shock, as Mahler brings back the “scream of anguish” from the third movement. In this program, Mahler paints an eerie picture. “The end of every living thing has come,” Mahler wrote, “The Last Judgment is at hand. The earth trembles; the graves burst open and the dead arise and step forth in a mighty procession. The great and small of this earth – kings and beggars, the just and the ungodly cry for mercy.” Then came the surprise. Mahler’s idea of the Day of Judgment was not the traditional one. As Mahler explained in his program, there is no judgment and no punishment. All are surrounded only by love as a gentle sound of a chorus of saints is heard singing “Aufersteh’n, ja aufersteh’n” (“Arise, yes arise”) inviting all to heaven. It is the softest entrance in all choral music. Some years later, Mahler reflected on his experience composing his Second Symphony, and focused on the role of the five-year hiatus after composing the first movement: “Never again will I attain such depths and heights, as Ulysses only once in his life returned from Tartarus. One can create only once or twice in a lifetime works on such a great subject. Beethoven with his C minor and his Ninth, Goethe with Faust, Dante with the Divine Comedy, etc. Without putting myself on their level or comparing myself to them, I am amazed that I was able to write this that summer in Steinbach! It was only thanks to the long interruption that had been forced upon me, after which the waters gushed forth, as they do from any obstructed pipe.”

10 Mahler’s Program

Mahler wrote several programs describing his Second Symphony, although he later withdrew them from use, saying “Music must speak for itself”. The following is culled from Mahler’s three drafts.

1. Allegro maestoso “We stand by the coffin of a person well loved. His whole life, his struggles, his passions, his sufferings and his accomplishments on earth once more for the last time pass before us. And now, in this solemn and deeply stirring moment, when the confusions and distractions of everyday life are lifted like a hood from our eyes, a voice of awe-inspiring solemnity chills our heart – a voice that, blinded by the mirage of everyday life, we usually ignore: ‘What next? What is life and what is death? Why did you live? Why did you suffer? Is it all nothing but a huge, frightful joke? Will we live on eternally? Do our life and death have a meaning?’ We must answer these questions in some way if we are to go on living – indeed, if we are to go on dying! He into whose life this call has once sounded must give an answer. And this answer I give in the final movement.”

The five-minute pause When Mahler finished composing the Second Symphony, he was troubled about placing the Andante as the second movement. He felt that the contrast between the power of the opening movement and the gentleness of the Andante was too extreme and therefore the Andante might seem an afterthought. “This is my fault,” he said, “not an inadequate appreciation on the listener’s part.” His first solution was to make the Andante the third movement. He finally solved the problem of keeping the Andante as the second movement in an unusual way: by directing conductors to take a pause of five minutes (later changed to “at least five minutes”) between the first and second movements for the audience to relax. Few conductors today observe the pause.

2. Andante moderato “A memory, a ray of sunlight, pure and cloudless, out of the departed’s life. You must surely have had the experience of burying someone dear to you, and then, perhaps, on the way back, some long-forgotten hour of shared happiness suddenly rose before your inner eye, sending, as it were, a sunbeam into your soul – not overcast by any shadow – and you almost forgot what had just taken place.”

3. In ruhig fließender Bewegung “When you awaken from that blissful dream and are forced to return to this tangled life of ours, it may easily happen that this surge of life ceaselessly in motion, never resting, never comprehensible, suddenly seems eerie, like the billowing dancing figures in a brightly lit ballroom that you gaze into from outside in the dark – and from a distance so great that you can no longer hear the music. Then the turning and twisting movement of the couples seems senseless. You must imagine that, to one who has lost his identity and his happiness, the world looks like this – distorted and crazy, as if reflected in a concave mirror. Life then becomes meaningless. Utter disgust for every form of existence and evolution seizes him in an iron grip, and he cries out in a scream of anguish.”

11 4. Urlicht (Primal Light) Sehr feierlich, aber schlicht (Choralmäßig) “The moving voice of innocent faith sounds in our ears. ‘I am from God and will return to God. The dear God will give me a light, will light me to eternal blessed life!’’’

5. Im Tempo des Scherzos “Once more we must confront terrifying questions. The movement starts with the same dreadful scream of anguish that ended the Scherzo. The voice of the Caller is heard. The end of every living thing has come, the last judgment is at hand, and the horror of the day of days has come upon us. The earth trembles; the last trump sounds; the graves burst open; all the creatures struggle out of the ground, moaning and trembling. Now they march in a mighty procession: rich and poor, peasants and kings, the whole church with bishops and popes. All have the same fear, all cry and tremble alike, because, in the eyes of God, there are no just men. The cry for mercy and forgiveness sounds fearful in our ears. The wailing becomes gradually more terrible. Our senses desert us; all consciousness dies as the Eternal Judge approaches. The trumpets of the Apocalypse ring out. Finally, after all have left their empty graves and the earth lies silent and deserted, there comes only the long-drawn note of the bird of death. Even it finally dies.” “What happens now is far from expected: Everything has ceased to exist. The gentle sound of a chorus of saints and heavenly hosts is then heard. Soft and simple, the words gently swell up: ‘Rise again, yes, rise again thou wilt!’ Then the glory of God comes into sight. A wondrous light strikes us to the heart. All is quiet and blissful. Lo and behold: There is no judgment, no sinners, no just men, no great and no small; there is no punishment and no reward. A feeling of overwhelming love fills us with blissful knowledge and illuminates our existence.”

12 Gilbert Kaplan is widely considered one of the foremost interpreters of Mahler’s Second Symphony (“Resurrection”). He has conducted highly acclaimed performances of the work with more than 65 orchestras, including the Vienna Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Philharmonia, London Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New Japan Philharmonic, La Scala, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Mariinsky Opera, Israel Philharmonic and China National Symphony (in the premiere of Mahler’s Second in China) orchestras. Kaplan’s recording of Mahler’s Second Symphony with the London Symphony Orchestra, with sales in excess of 180,000 copies, is the bestselling Mahler recording in history and was selected as one of the “Records of the Year” by The New York Times and by the German television channel ZDF. His award- winning recording of Mahler’s Second with the Vienna Philharmonic has been the bestselling recording of the Second Symphony since it was released in 2003 by Deutsche Grammophon. Kaplan led the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Chorus of the Vienna State Opera in an opening concert of the Salzburg Festival, which Time magazine reported was a “triumph that shook the Großes Festspielhaus to its granite foundations”. A leading authority on Mahler, Kaplan is joint editor (together with Renate Stark-Voit) of the New Critical Edition of Mahler’s Second Symphony. He is also the author and editor of the award-winning illustrated biography The Mahler Album. On radio, he has served as the host of a 13-week Mahler series broadcast on 350 radio stations in the United States and host of “Mad About Music”, a celebrity classical music and interview program. A faculty member of the Juilliard School (Evening Division) for more than a decade, Kaplan has also lectured at leading conservatories and universities including Harvard and Oxford. Kaplan is a recipient of many honors, including an honorary doctorate from Westminster Choir College of Princeton, New Jersey, and the George Eastman Medal for Distinguished Musical Achievement from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. He serves on the board of New York’s Carnegie Hall and the Visiting Committee to the Department of Music at Harvard University.

Born in Germany, Marlis Petersen had already trained in the piano and flute before dedicating her career to voice as a lyric coloratura soprano. She is also highly regarded as an interpreter of contemporary music. After studying at the Stuttgart Conservatoire, Ms. Petersen began her professional career at the Nuremberg Opera. She has performed at Covent Garden in London, Opera Bastille in Paris, the Met in New York, Chicago Lyric Opera, Bavarian State Opera, at all the Berlin opera houses, the Salzburg Festival, Bregenz Festival and Aix-en-Provence in roles including Berg’s Lulu, Hans Werner Henze’s Phaedra, Manfred Trojahn’s La Grande Magia, Aribert Reimann’s Medea, in Peter Konwitschny’s production of La traviata and all four roles of Stella, Olympia, Antonia and Giulietta in Les Contes d’Hoffmann. Ms. Petersen has collaborated with orchestras including the Vienna Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, Boston Symphony, Staatskapelle Dresden and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra.

13 German mezzo-soprano Janina Baechle has for many years been a member of the Vienna State Opera, where she has sung Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana, Ortrud in Lohengrin, Brangäne in Tristan and Isolde, Erda, Fricka and Waltraute in Der Ring des Nibelungen, Herodias in Salome, Mistress Quickly in Falstaff, Ulrica in Un ballo in maschera and Eboli in Don Carlos. At the Staatstheater Hannover she has portrayed Amneris in Aida, Geschwitz in Lulu and Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier. Ms. Baechle has collaborated with conductors including Bertrand de Billy, Kent Nagano, Seiji Ozawa, Donald Runnicles, Pinchas Steinberg, Semyon Bychkov, Christoph von Dohnányi, Christian Thielemann and Franz Welser-Möst and with orchestras including the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Sinfonieorchester des Norddeutschen Rundfunks, Symphonie-orchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks and the Wiener Philharmoniker. One of her recently released recordings was of lieder by Gustav Mahler in 2013. Ms. Baechle has a special relationship with the work of Mahler. She has sung in the Second Symphony under Seiji Ozawa, Gilbert Kaplan, Leif Segerstam, Andrés Orozco-Estrada and others, the Eighth Symphony under Jonathan Nott and Mariss Jansons, Das Lied von der Erde under Kirill Petrenko and Kent Nagano, Kindertotenlieder under Emmanuel Plasson etc. Janina Baechle studied music and history at Hamburg University and at the Hamburg Music Academy.

The Wiener KammerOrchester was founded in 1946 and has had a special partnership with principal conductor Carlo Zecchi as well as with guests such as Yehudi Menuhin, Sándor Végh, Heinz Holliger, Sir Neville Marriner, Adam Fischer and Rudolf Barshai. Under the leadership of Stefan Vladar, who was appointed Artistic Director in May 2008, the Wiener KammerOrchester has become one of the leading chamber orchestras in the world. Among the artists that have collaborated with the orchestra are Martha Argerich, Cecilia Bartoli, Ian Bostridge, Rudolf Buchbinder, Isabelle Faust, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Kiri Te Kanawa, Anna Netrebko, Thomas Quasthoff, Julian Rachlin, David Stern and Thomas Zehetmair as well as the Wiener Sängerknaben and the Hamburg Ballet. In addition to its subscription series “Matinées” and “International Prizewinners” at the Vienna Konzerthaus, the orchestra performs in the “Symphonie Classique” and “Voices” series in the Great Hall and at festivals and concert halls around the world, including the Beethoven Festival Bonn, George Enescu Festival and the Eisenstadt Haydn Festival. The orchestra frequently tours throughout Europe, Russia, Asia, the US and South America.

Founded in 1858, the Wiener Singakademie has been affiliated with the Wiener Konzerthaus since 1913, when it was established. Among its artistic directors were Johannes Brahms and Bruno Walter. Under Heinz Ferlesch, their current artistic director, the chorus has been awarded the Ferdinand Grossmann Prize for outstanding achievements in the field of choral music. Conductors that have collaborated with the chorus include Claudio Abbado, Karl Böhm, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Edvard Grieg, Lorin Maazel, Sir Roger Norrington, Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Georg Solti, Richard Strauss, Christian Thielemann, Anton Webern and Franz Welser-Möst. The chorus has participated in numerous recordings, most recently Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus and Alexander’s Feast as part of the Austrian ORF Edition Alte Musik, Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi with Anna Netrebko and Elīna Garanča (Deutsche Grammophon), Albert’s Tiefland (Oehms Classics) and a DVD produced by Italy’s RAI of works by Vivaldi under Claudio Scimone.

14 Urlicht Primal Light SOPRAN SOPRANO aus „Des Knaben Wunderhorn“ from “Des Knaben Wunderhorn” O glaube: Du warst nicht umsonst Oh believe, thou wert not born in geboren! vain! MEZZOSOPRAN MEZZO-SOPRANO Hast nicht umsonst gelebt, Hast not lived in vain, suffered in O Röschen rot! Oh red rose! gelitten! vain! Der Mensch liegt in größter Not! Man lies in deepest need, Der Mensch liegt in größter Pein! Man lies in deepest pain. CHOR CHORUS Je lieber möcht’ ich im Himmel sein! Yes, I would rather be in heaven! Was entstanden ist, das muss vergehen! What has come into being must perish, Da kam ich auf einen breiten Weg; I came upon a broad pathway: Was vergangen, auferstehen! What perished must rise again. da kam ein Engelein und wollt’ mich An angel came and wanted to send me abweisen. away. CHOR UND MEZZOSOPRAN CHORUS AND MEZZO-SOPRANO Ach nein! Ich ließ mich nicht abweisen! Ah no! I would not be sent away! Hör auf zu beben! Cease from trembling! Ich bin von Gott und will wieder zu I am from God and will return to Bereite dich zu leben! Prepare thyself to live! Gott! God. Der liebe Gott wird mir ein Lichtchen The dear God will give me a SOPRAN UND MEZZOSOPRAN SOPRANO AND MEZZO-SOPRANO geben, light, O Schmerz! Du Alldurchdringer! Oh Pain, thou piercer of all things, wird leuchten mir bis in das ewig selig Will light me to eternal blessed Dir bin ich entrungen! From thee have I been wrested! Leben! life! O Tod! Du Allbezwinger! Oh Death, thou masterer of all things, Nun bist du bezwungen! Now art thou mastered! Auferstehung Resurrection Mit Flügeln, die ich mir errungen, With wings which I have won, in heißem Liebesstreben In love’s fierce striving, CHOR UND SOPRAN CHORUS AND SOPRANO werd’ ich entschweben I shall soar upwards Aufersteh’n, ja aufersteh’n wirst du, Rise again, yea, thou wilt rise again, zum Licht, zu dem kein Aug’ To the light to which no eye has mein Staub, nach kurzer Ruh! My dust, after short rest! gedrungen! soared. Unsterblich Leben! Unsterblich Leben Immortal life! Immortal life wird der dich rief dir geben. He who called thee will grant thee. CHOR CHORUS Wieder aufzublühn, wirst du gesä’t! To bloom again art thou sown! Mit Flügeln, die ich mir errungen, With wings which I have won Der Herr der Ernte geht The Lord of the Harvest goes werde ich entschweben! I shall soar upwards! und sammelt Garben And gathers in, like sheaves, Sterben werd’ ich, um zu leben! I shall die, to live! uns ein, die starben! Us who died. CHOR, SOPRAN UND CHORUS, SOPRANO AND MEZZOSOPRAN MEZZO-SOPRANO MEZZOSOPRAN MEZZO-SOPRANO O glaube, mein Herz! O glaube: Oh believe, my heart, oh believe: Aufersteh’n, ja aufersteh’n wirst du, Rise again, yea, thou wilt rise again, Es geht dir nichts verloren! Nothing is lost with thee! mein Herz, in einem Nu! My heart, in the twinkling of an eye! Dein ist, ja dein, was du gesehnt, Thine is what thou hast desired, Was du geschlagen, What thou hast fought for Dein, was du geliebt, was du What thou hast loved for, what thou hast zu Gott wird es dich tragen! Shall lead thee to God! gestritten! fought for! Klopstock/Mahler (Strophen 1 & 2); Mahler Klopstock/Mahler (verses 1 & 2); Mahler

15 Recording: Vienna, Wiener Konzerthaus, February 17, 2013 Executive Producer: Heidi Bryson Producer, Tonmeister (Balance Engineer) and Editor: Rainer Maillard Assistant Engineers: Daniel Kemper, Ulrich Wagner

Recorded, edited and mastered by Emil Berliner Studios

ൿ & Ꭿ 2014 Kaplan Foundation, New York English translation of the sung texts: Deryck Cooke (courtesy of Cambridge University Press)

Photos and Illustrations Cover: Gilbert Kaplan (Tapp Francke) Page 2: Mezzotint engraving by Emil Orlik, 1902 (Collection Gilbert Kaplan, New York) Page 13: Gilbert Kaplan (Tanja Niemann) Page 13: Marlis Petersen (Y. Mavropoulos) Page 14: Janina Baechle (Kurt Pinter) Page 17: By Hans Schliessmann, 1901 (Collection Kaplan Foundation, New York)

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