PROGRAMME NOTES PROGRAMME: NOV. 16 totality of existence. Fichte’s priority of the ego, transformed into precariousness. Yet this symphony shines, it shines like an evening star, so far away, so near. That is not yet clear at the opening (“here Nature roars,” Mahler wrote). A subliminal knocking in an indistinct register instead suggests a certain nervousness. In the second bar, however, the warmly resounding solo of the tenor horn begins, and, despite its downwards pointing intervallic structure and setting in a somewhat restless metre, it offers reconciliation and starts a broadly sweeping arioso. The transition to the brisk main section takes place in a strangely austere tonal sphere, which, despite several striking signals, seems strangely hermetic. A traditional sonata form follows, clearly divided into an exposition, development, recapitulation and coda. The first Nachtmusik is an allegro moderato; Mahler compared it to the atmosphere in Rembrandt’s The Night Watch. Formally, the movement is made up of several march-like sections changing from major to minor, alternating between two trios — one in folk-song style, the other lyrical and melancholy. The second Nachtmusik is an andante amoroso: we picture Romeo before us on Juliet’s balcony, a guitar in his hands. He sings a beautiful, simple song, a love song. This melody evokes an association with the music in Viennese beer gardens. For the Mahler biographer Kurt Blaukopf it “anticipates the symphonic chamber style which Arnold Schoenberg... established with his Chamber Symphony.” Mahler placed a scherzo between the two nocturnes that is reminiscent of a grotesque dance scene from the realm of the spirits. A (somewhat different) Midsummer Night’s Dream, through which satyrs and goblins scurry, sometimes grinning sardonically, sometimes blinking dreamily; sometimes sending glaring flashes of lightning, sometimes vanishing behind each other like shadows; sometimes explosive, sometimes contemplative: sweetly subtle eroticism in everything. Conceptually, the Rondo-Finale returns to the large form. The basic idea is a ritornello. Mahler saw it as the only possibility to externally coordinate the isolated contrasts. It opens with a powerful intonation by the timpani, makes use of various elements such as fanfare, chorale and march, then sets off on a 15-minute journey to the C-major apotheosis of the first theme. This is not the only passage where the close conceptual and material relationship to the first movement of the symphony becomes obvious. The structure and melodic texture of the two main themes point to material heard earlier, although the profile of the rondo idea does not have the same depth or weight as the allegro theme in the first movement. Perhaps one can put it like this: Mahler’s music is the reflection of a world which suffers from itself and assigns the role of the sufferer to the individual, who is the cause of this suffering in the first place. His Weltschmerz is pain caused by both the beauty and the ugliness of the world. For him, the most wonderful element dwells directly beside the most hideous, love next to madness, and madness next to death. The images produced in the media every day are already contained in Mahler’s music. To understand the world, its mechanisms, it is enough to hear this music. One must only endure it, over and over again. <strong>Programme</strong> Notes by Jürgen Otten | Translation: Phyllis Anderson masseyhall.com | roythomson.com Schönberg Wednesday, November 16 Webern, Schönberg and Berg will be played “attacca” — please hold applause until Berg Drei Orchesterstücke is complete. Fünf Orchesterstücke, Op. 16 18’ (Five Pieces for Orchestra) - original version from 1909 1. Vorgefühle: Sehr rasch 2. Vergangenes: Mäßige Viertel 3. Farben: Mäßige Viertel 4. Peripetie: Sehr rasch 5. Das obligate Rezitativ: Bewegte Achtel Webern Sechs Stücke für Orchester, Op. 6b 10’ (Six Pieces for Orchestra) - reduced version from 1928 1. Langsam 4. Sehr mäßig 2. Bewegt 5. Sehr langsam 3. Mäßig 6. Langsam Berg Drei Orchesterstücke, Op. 6 21’ (Three Pieces for Orchestra) - original version from 1929 1. Präludium 2. Reigen 3. Marsch Intermission Brahms Symphony No. 2, D Major, Op. 73 40’ I. Allegro non troppo II. Adagio non troppo – L’istesso tempo, ma grazioso III. Allegretto grazioso (quasi andantino) – Presto ma non assai – Tempo primo – Presto ma non assai – Tempo primo IV. Allegro con spirito PROGRAMME NOTES Schönberg: Five Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 16 — original version 1909 Born: Vienna, Austria, September 13, 1874 Died: Los Angeles, California, United States, July 13, 1951 Composed: 1909; Schönberg put out a version for chamber orchestra in 1920 and a revised recast for large orchestra in 1922. In 1949, he reduced the score for “standard orchestra.” World Premiere: The numbers 1, 2 and 4 were played in a version for two pianos, four hands on February 4, 1912 in Berlin. The full orchestral version was performed for the first time on September 3, 1912 at London’s Queen’s Hall under the direction of Sir Henry Wood. The Berlin Philharmonic performed the revised recast version of this piece for the first time on December 11, 1922 under the direction of Conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler. masseyhall.com | roythomson.com