Mahler: Symphonie No. 4 Trevor Pinnock CHAMBER ARRANGEMENT BY ERWIN STEIN ROYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC SOLOISTS ENSEMBLE Mahler: Symphonie No. 4 Trevor Pinnock CHAMBER ARRANGEMENT BY ERWIN STEIN ROYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC SOLOISTS ENSEMBLE Claude Debussy (1862 – 1918) q Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune............................. 10:39 Gustav Mahler (1860 – 1911) Symphonie No. 4 w Bedächtig,.nicht.eilen...................................................................... 15:59 e In.gemächlicher.Bewegung,.ohne.Hast..............................................8:53 r Ruhevoll,.poco.adagio......................................................................19:39 t Sehr.behaglich................................................................................... 9:12 Total Time:.64:38 Recorded.St.George’s,.Brandon.Hill,.Bristol.UK.from.16.–.18.Feb.2012 Producer.Jonathan.Freeman-Attwood..|..Engineer.Philip.Hobbs.. Post-production.Julia.Thomas..|..Design.gmtoucari.com.. Photography.Hana.Zushi,.Royal.Academy.of.Music. Cover.Image.Weisse.Zickzacks,.1922.by.Wassily.Kandinsky.©.ADAGP,.Paris.and.DACS,. London.2013. ounded.in.1918.by.Arnold.Schoenberg.(with.the.assistance.of. Alban.Berg),.the.Verein.für.musikalische.Privataufführungen. F(Society.for.Private.Musical.Performances).was.an.idealistic. exercise,.born.of.a.reactionary.opposition.to.the.increasingly. commodified.society.of.post-war.Vienna..Its.remit.was.simple:.to. provide.performances.of.new.music.at.the.highest.possible.level.in.an. artistic.‘safe.haven’..As.such,.the.Verein.operated.as.a.subscription. concert.series,.which.outlawed.critics,.proscribed.applause,.and. published.no.programmes,.so.as.to.ensure.that.only.works.ready.to.be. performed.were.presented.and.that.audiences.attended.evenly. Presented.in.the.concerts.was.a.mixture.of.solo,.chamber.and. orchestral.works,.the.last.of.which.were.either.realised.in.keyboard. arrangements.or.through.a.sizeable.chamber.ensemble,.typically. comprising.a.handful.of.wind.instruments,.a.string.quintet,. harmonium.and.piano..The.works.performed.were.not,.however,. restricted.to.the.Second.Viennese.School;.rather,.Schoenberg.was. keen.to.programme.any.living.composers.whom.he.felt.exhibited. a.distinctive.voice..This.included.music.by.Ravel,.Debussy,.Reger,. Strauss,.Mahler.and.Bartók,.amongst.many.others..Indeed,. Schoenberg.forbade.the.programming.of.any.of.his.own.works.until. the.society’s.second.season. The.idea.of.a.chamber.reduction.of.a.large-scale.orchestral.work.was. one.that.fascinated.Schoenberg,.who.argued.that.stripping.away. 4 Gustav Mahler Symphonie No. 4 layers.offered.fresh.perspectives.on.the.composer’s.craft..Reductions,. necessarily.requiring.fewer.players,.were.also.more.affordable.options. for.the.financially.squeezed.Verein..Nevertheless,.the.Verein.ceased. meeting.at.the.very.end.of.1921,.owing.to.the.austerity.resulting.from. Viennese.hyperinflation. Published.in.1876,.Stéphane.Mallarmé’s.poem,.L’après-midi d’un faune.(The.Afternoon.of.a.Faun),.is.a.sensuous.evocation.of.this. mythical.half-man,.half-goat’s.libidinous.and.sultry.daydreaming. about.a.passing.group.of.nymphs..As.a.young.man,.Debussy.had. set.one.of.the.poet’s.earlier.works.and.would.go.on.to.become.more. intimately.acquainted.with.Mallarmé’s.symbolist.style.through.the. latter’s.weekly.artistic.soirées.–.a.familiarity.that.eventually.led.to. Debussy’s.musical.complement.to.this.erotic.text..Thus,.in.1892,. Debussy.started.composing.a.work.intended.to.be.the.‘Prélude,. interludes.et.paraphrase.finale.pour.l’après-midi.d’un.faune’;.yet.his. project.was.cut.short.by.the.competing.completion.of.his.celebrated. opera,.Pelléas et Mélisande,.leaving.only.the.Prélude. This.single.movement.is.an.examination.of.orchestral.colour,.from. the.singular.delicacy.of.the.opening.flute’s.lingering.line,.through. suggestive.swells,.to.more.pungent.and.reedy.pastoralism..Indeed,. Saint-Saëns.was.less.than.kind.about.the.work,.stating.that.‘it.is.. as.much.a.piece.of.music.as.the.palette.a.painter.has.worked.from.. is.a.painting’. 5 Both.Debussy.and.Ravel.made.their.own.keyboard.arrangements.of. the.Prélude.(1895.and.1910.respectively),.Ravel.stating.that.he.would. like.the.work.performed.at.his.funeral..The.chamber.arrangement. made.for.the.Verein,.whilst.often.attributed.to.Schoenberg,.actually. appears.to.have.been.made.by.another.member.of.the.society,.Benno. Sachs,.who.had.been.a.student.of.Schoenberg.and.acted.briefly. as.the.Corresponding.Secretary.for.the.Verein..Schoenberg.offered. clear.advice.about.how.to.approach.such.arrangements,.which.Sachs. seems.to.have.followed.closely..As.a.re-orchestration.it.retains.many. of.the.sounds.of.Debussy’s.original,.using.the.span.of.the.piano.to.fill. out.gaps.in.the.texture,.and.the.harmonium.to.sustain.missing.parts. in.the.winds,.additions.which.add.much.interest.and.afford.a.new. coherence.and.sensuality.to.the.melodic.line..Indeed,.because.the. original.eschews.trumpets,.trombones.and.percussion.(apart.from. the.distinctive.antique.cymbals),.this.‘miniaturisation’.does.not.lose. much.by.way.of.colour.–.thanks.to.inventive.substitutions.–.even.if.the. spectrum.of.intensity.is.somewhat.diminished..For.example,.in.the. opening.passage,.the.clarinet.re-enters.earlier.than.in.the.original,.so. as.to.fill.in.a.missing.horn.line. A.poetic.stimulus.also.underlies.Mahler’s.Symphonie.No..4,.this.. time.from.his.formative.discovery.of.the.collection.of.folksongs,.. Des Knaben Wunderhorn.(‘The.Boy’s.Magic.Horn’).in.the.late.1880s.. The.first.four.symphonies.all.include.references.to.Wunderhorn,.which. 6 Gustav Mahler Symphonie No. 4 led.Mahler.to.suggest.that.they.were.a.quasi-tetralogy,.with.the.fourth. as.its.‘tapering,.topmost.tower’. Certainly,.the.symphony’s.more.modest.proportions.lend.themselves. to.both.this.description.and.a.chamber.arrangement..Omitting.both. trombones.and.tuba.–.even.if.he.had.considered.their.inclusion.in.. the.climax.of.the.slow.movement.–.and.content.with.just.triple. woodwinds.(except.the.flutes),.the.relatively.benign.forces.confused. the.audiences.who.were.just.becoming.accustomed.to.Mahler’s. big-boned.works.and.original.structures..It.was.also.the.first.of. his.symphonies.to.adopt.the.traditional.four.movements.(the.first. symphony.having.originally.comprised.five). Although.by.the.end.of.his.life.Mahler.had.dispensed.with.explicit. musical.programmes,.this.symphony.is.coloured.by.references..For. example,.the.violin.solo.in.the.second.movement,.with.its.deliberately. sharpened.strings,.evokes.the.sound.of.a.folk.fiddler,.who.is.perhaps. himself.some.sort.of.macabre.figure,.Mahler.having.labelled.the.solo. in.his.sketches.with.the.phrase.‘Brother.Hain.strikes.up.’.Similarly,.the. third.movement.is.a.set.of.variations.spelled.out.through.rondo.form,. the.theme.of.which.reminded.Mahler.of.his.mother’s.‘sad.and.yet. laughing’.face. At.the.symphony’s.heart.–.although.not.revealed.until.the.final,.. fourth.movement.–.is.a.vocal.setting.of.the.Wunderhorn.poem.. 7 Das himmlisches Leben.(‘The.Heavenly.Life’,.although.later.renamed. by.Mahler.as.‘What.the.child.tells.me’),.which.he.had.originally. intended.to.be.the.finale.of.his.third.symphony..Its.naivety.informs. each.movement,.as.Mahler.tried.to.capture.the.‘undifferentiated. blue.of.the.sky’,.directing.the.singer.to.adopt.a.‘childlike,.cheerful. expression,.entirely.without.parody’..It.is.this.heavenly.aspiration.that. also.led.Mahler.to.consider.calling.this.symphony.a.‘humoresque’,.as. he.understood.humour.to.be.a.key.to.a.‘higher.world’. Three.of.Mahler’s.symphonies.were.performed.at.the.Verein:.the. sixth.and.seventh.in.keyboard.arrangements,.and.his.fourth.in.the. present.reduction.for.fourteen.instruments.and.solo.soprano..This. arrangement.–.premièred.on.10.January.1921.with.the.soprano.Martha. Fuchs.–.was.made.by.one.of.Schoenberg’s.earliest.composition.pupils,. Erwin.Stein,.who.also.took.over.the.directorship.of.performances.in. the.Verein.from.1920..The.exercise.is.a.revealing.one,.as.both.Stein’s. choices.and.the.nature.of.such.reduction.expose.more.of.Mahler’s. counterpoint.through.the.leaner.textures:.a.logical.extension.of.the. original’s.chamber-like.ideals..In.the.years.following.the.closure.of. the.society.the.original.instrumental.parts.were.lost,.only.recently. to.be.reconstructed.by.Alexander.Platt.from.Stein’s.annotations.on.a. complete.score.of.the.symphony. ©.Thomas.Hancox,.2013 8 9 Royal Academy of Music Soloists Ensemble Violin Clarinet Eloisa-Fleur.Thom Rozenn.Le.Trionnaire Konrad.Elias-Trostmann Percussion Viola Michael.Rareshide Wenhong.Luo Ben.Lewis Cello Harmonium Romain.Dhainaut Nikola.Eckertova. Bass Piano William.Cole Albert.Lau Chia-Ying.Tu Flute Mi.Ri.Seo Oboe Soprano Hannah.Morgan Sónia.Grané 10 Gustav Mahler Symphonie No. 4 11 The Royal Academy of Music ‘The Royal Academy of Music in London is internationally known and recognised as representing the highest values of music and musical society.’. Daniel.Barenboim ‘This building has been absolutely at the centre of everything that I have done; everything that I have learnt.’ Sir.Simon.Rattle 12 Gustav Mahler Symphonie No. 4 he.Royal.Academy.of.Music.has.been.training.musicians.to. the.highest.professional.standards.since.its.foundation.in. T 1822..As.Britain’s.senior.conservatoire,.its.impact.on.musical. life,.both.in.the.UK.and.abroad,.is.inestimable..The.music.profession. is.permeated.at.all.levels.with.Academy.alumni,.including.classical. giants.such.as.Sir.Simon.Rattle,.Sir.John.Tavener.and.Sir.Harrison. Birtwistle,.pop.icons.Sir.Elton.John.and.Annie.Lennox,.a.host.of.opera.