- 1 -
1 Script for NYP 18-05: Mahler 5/Kindertotenlieder
2 (ROLL CREDITS)
3 (THEME MUSIC w INTRO UP AND UNDER TO "X")
4 AB: And “this” week....(X)
5 (MUSIC SAMPLE UP AND UNDER)
6 AB: We present Mahler’s Fifth Symphony. This is 7 Alec Baldwin. Please join me for a broadcast 8 that will also feature Thomas Hampson as 9 soloist in the Kindertotenlieder. Zubin Mehta 10 and Alan Gilbert will conduct…The New York 11 Philharmonic This Week
12 (ACTUALITY: tom 01)
13 AB: Baritone Thomas Hampson with some opening 14 remarks about the next work on our program: 15 The Kindertotenlieder or Songs on the Death of 16 Children by Gustav Mahler.
17 (SLIGHT PAUSE)
18 AB: The Kindertotenlieder is a song-cycle of 19 incredible depth. The narrative and the 20 musical language are structured in such a way 21 that the piece can be sung by either a mezzo or - 2 -
22 a baritone. Here now is Thomas Hampson to tell 23 us more about this work:
24 (MT/TH with MUSIC illustrations) ~2:15
25 ALT: Thomas Hampson discussed this work in detail 26 with our producer, Mark Travis:
27 AB: The first song is set on the morning after the 28 child’s death. The brightness of the rising 29 sun seems so cruel to the devastated parent. 30 In the next song, we encounter a parent who 31 desperately longs for the dead child. That is 32 followed in the next piece by a spectral 33 suggestion of the mother's footsteps followed 34 by the footsteps of the dead daughter, ending 35 in the desolate numbness of bereavement.
36 (MUSIC DOT)
37 AB: In the fourth song, we hear a father say that 38 he often imagines that his children have merely 39 gone out and will soon be back – and then the 40 final song depicts a thunderstorm and the 41 parents' sorrow and regret that they allowed 42 the children to go out in it. This final song 43 ends with the father’s resignation to the fate 44 that has overcome him and his belief that the 45 children are resting gently in God’s Hands. - 3 -
46 Here again is Thomas Hampson:
47 (ALT ACTUALITY)
48 (APPLAUSE)
49 AB: We’ll now hear the Kindertotenlieder or “Songs 50 on the Death of Children” by Mahler. Alan 51 Gilbert conducts the New York Philharmonic.
52 (MUSIC) (APPLAUSE)
53 AB: Baritone Thomas Hampson was the soloist there, 54 in Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder or “Songs on the 55 Death of Children.” The New York Philharmonic 56 was conducted by Alan Gilbert.
57 (SLIGHT PAUSE)
58 AB: Coming up after a short break, we’ll hear 59 Mahler’s Fifth Symphony. I’m Alec Baldwin and 60 you’re listening to the New York Philharmonic 61 This Week.
62 (FADE OUT)(FADE IN)
63 AB: Completed in 1902, the Fifth Symphony 64 demonstrated a new direction in Mahler’s 65 creative expression. It was the first of his 66 symphonies written as pure, abstract music. In 67 other words, the piece has no obvious - 4 -
68 “program.” Nor does is have any sort of 69 connection to a song or text.
70 Nevertheless, the musical canvas and emotional 71 scope of the work are huge. Conductor Herbert 72 von Karajan [HAIR-bert phone CAR-uh-yahn] once 73 remarked that when you hear Mahler's 74 Fifth, “you forget that time has passed.”
75 After the premiere of the Fifth Symphony, 76 Mahler is reported to have said, “Nobody 77 understood it. I wish I could conduct the first 78 performance fifty years after my death.” We 79 might add that Mahler revised this work for 80 therest of his life. He eventually completed a 81 re-orchestration of the symphony in 1911…and 82 died not long thereafter.
83 (APPLAUSE)
84 AB: Here, now, is the Symphony No. 5 by Mahler. 85 Zubin Mehta conducts…The New York Philharmonic.
86 (MUSIC)
87 (APPLAUSE)
88 AB: Symphony No. 5 by Gustav Mahler. The New York 89 Philharmonic was conducted by Zubin Mehta. And 90 just like all of the music on this week’s - 5 -
91 program, that, too, is available commercially 92 when you visit nyphil.org.
93 (INSERT CLOSERS/CREDITS)
94