Post by erik on Mar 23, 2024 17:49:57 GMT -5
This week's Classical Albums Spotlight focuses on Gustav Mahler and his First Symphony, made by one of his greatest advocates in the conducting realm.
Mahler: SYMPHONY NO. 1 IN D MAJOR (TITAN)
Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam/LEONARD BERNSTEIN (Deutsche Grammophon)
Coming as he did at the tail end of the Romantic era in the late 19th century, Gustav Mahler was someone who believed in thinking big; and when it came to symphonies, he often argued that the symphony must embrace the entire scope of the world. But while he had advocates for his music during his lifetime, including hugely influential conductors like Bruno Walter, Otto Klemperer, and Leopold Stokowski, after his passing in 1911, he largely fell out of favor with audiences, a fall out that lasted for close to half a century, during which time we had two major world wars, a Holocaust, and the introduction of humanity-annihilating nuclear weapons. And then the Cold War years of the 1950’s and 1960’s brought on a huge revival of Mahler’s music. The song cycles, including “Des Knaben Wunderhorn”, came first; but even with Klemperer and Walter still around, it was undoubtedly Leonard Bernstein who truly made Mahler a big deal, particularly in America with his landmark recordings for CBS with the New York Philharmonic. Mahler’s symphonies, in particular, seemed right for the turbulent decade of the 1960’s; and Bernstein enhanced them with an emotional probing like almost no other conductor so closely associated with this composer.
What is arguably the most popular of the symphonies, and arguably also the most accessible, is his very first symphony, the D Major behemoth known as the “Titan”. Beginning with an eerie depiction of dawn and the seeming creation of the natural world, the work is large in size, scope, and orchestration, but it is contained in a span of fifty-five minutes. The Scherzo is a fairly off-kilter work that reflects the composer’s Jewish heritage; while the slow third movement is a study in the macabre, a minor-key version of the French song “Frere-Jacuqes”, complete with Jewish klezmer influences. And the final is one of such emotional extremes, erupting like an apocalyptic firestorm, and finally ending with a triumphant blast, with a motif straight out of the “Hallelujah” chorus of Handel’s “Messiah” (“And her shall reign forever and ever”).
It is Bernstein’s later Deutsche Grammophon recording of the Titan Symphony that many judge to be the recording of note. Recorded live in October 1987 with the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, an orchestra for whom Mahler’s symphonies were not an alien thing, this recording brings out the orchestra’s expertise with Mahler, helmed by a conductor notorious (at least in the minds of his detractors) for extreme emotionalism. But Mahler was known for extreme emotionalism in his music, and this made Bernstein the perfect foil for this piece.
Mahler: SYMPHONY NO. 1 IN D MAJOR (TITAN)
Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam/LEONARD BERNSTEIN (Deutsche Grammophon)
Coming as he did at the tail end of the Romantic era in the late 19th century, Gustav Mahler was someone who believed in thinking big; and when it came to symphonies, he often argued that the symphony must embrace the entire scope of the world. But while he had advocates for his music during his lifetime, including hugely influential conductors like Bruno Walter, Otto Klemperer, and Leopold Stokowski, after his passing in 1911, he largely fell out of favor with audiences, a fall out that lasted for close to half a century, during which time we had two major world wars, a Holocaust, and the introduction of humanity-annihilating nuclear weapons. And then the Cold War years of the 1950’s and 1960’s brought on a huge revival of Mahler’s music. The song cycles, including “Des Knaben Wunderhorn”, came first; but even with Klemperer and Walter still around, it was undoubtedly Leonard Bernstein who truly made Mahler a big deal, particularly in America with his landmark recordings for CBS with the New York Philharmonic. Mahler’s symphonies, in particular, seemed right for the turbulent decade of the 1960’s; and Bernstein enhanced them with an emotional probing like almost no other conductor so closely associated with this composer.
What is arguably the most popular of the symphonies, and arguably also the most accessible, is his very first symphony, the D Major behemoth known as the “Titan”. Beginning with an eerie depiction of dawn and the seeming creation of the natural world, the work is large in size, scope, and orchestration, but it is contained in a span of fifty-five minutes. The Scherzo is a fairly off-kilter work that reflects the composer’s Jewish heritage; while the slow third movement is a study in the macabre, a minor-key version of the French song “Frere-Jacuqes”, complete with Jewish klezmer influences. And the final is one of such emotional extremes, erupting like an apocalyptic firestorm, and finally ending with a triumphant blast, with a motif straight out of the “Hallelujah” chorus of Handel’s “Messiah” (“And her shall reign forever and ever”).
It is Bernstein’s later Deutsche Grammophon recording of the Titan Symphony that many judge to be the recording of note. Recorded live in October 1987 with the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, an orchestra for whom Mahler’s symphonies were not an alien thing, this recording brings out the orchestra’s expertise with Mahler, helmed by a conductor notorious (at least in the minds of his detractors) for extreme emotionalism. But Mahler was known for extreme emotionalism in his music, and this made Bernstein the perfect foil for this piece.