History AwesomeMusic / GustavMahler

* "Awesome" might not be the ideal word to describe [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoNEeKJ2x44 Symphony No.9,]] as it is the most low-key of Mahler's symphonies - it is the only one to both open and close with slow movements - but the music in it is so beautiful and so radiant that awe is a natural reaction. The first movement begins on hallowed ground as rhythmic and melodic ideas that recur throughout the ensuing sonata allegro are gradually assembled, most notably a syncopated rhythm[[note]]This was interpreted by Music/LeonardBernstein as a depiction of Mahler's irregular heartbeat, a symptom of the heart disease that led to his death at the age of 50.[[/note]] that thunders forth in the low brass in the middle of the movement, and a falling major second that sounds like a half-finished sentence, only resolving properly at the very end of the movement. The inner movements are both acerbic in character; the second movement scherzo blends a comically exaggerated Ländler with a distorted waltz, both dances Mahler used prolifically in his symphonic scherzi, but now pushed to the boundary of self-parody. The third movement is subtitled "Rondo-Burleske", blending Baroque counterpoint with harsh dissonances to create an atmosphere far more dark than funny, yet never less than fascinating. The finale[[note]]Which takes place in the key of D-flat major, whereas the first movement is in D major.[[/note]] is the slowest of the four movements and the most sparsely scored, opening with an impassioned cry from the violins that heralds a hymnlike main theme.[[note]] It is particularly reminiscent of ''Eventide'', AKA "Abide With Me".[[/note]] As the movement unfolds, tonality is broken down and re-assembled, a melody from the "Rondo-Burleske" undergoes a startling transformation into a heartfelt elegy, and the violins quote a passage from "Oft denk' ich, sie sind nur ausgegangen" from ''Kindertotenlieder'', all building (or, perhaps, descending) to the final two pages for strings only, as the music slowly fades away, its final note marked ''ersterbend'' ("dying away"). Yet while there is an undeniable sense of solemn valediction, the atmosphere is one not of tragedy but of release, as though Mahler is saying "Though I die, I go to a better place, and I leave you this music to remember me by."[[note]] Emphasis on "as though", as when Mahler finished the symphony, he thought he was in better health than he actually was, and he was preparing for a busy season as conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and working on the early sketches of his Symphony No.10.[[/note]]

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g67Ifyeau0Y&t=4m56s Symphony No.3]] is Mahler's longest, having once featured in ''The Guinness Book of World Records'' as the ''world's'' longest symphony,[[note]] Even a brisk performance takes nearly 100 minutes, while the other eight all clock in between 55 and 90 minutes in most performances. It remains the longest symphony in the standard repertoire; the record-holder according to the ''Guinness Book'', Havergal Brian's Symphony No.1 (''Gothic''), is about 10-15 minutes longer, but has only been performed in its entirety six times. And that's not getting into symphonies that are longer on paper, such as Kaikhosru Sorabji's ''Jami'' symphony (four and a half hours) or Dimitrie Cuclin's Symphony No.12 (six hours), but have never been performed or recorded. (If one counts organ symphonies, Sorabji's Organ Symphony No.2 lasts a finger-ruining ''eight and a half'' hours.)[[/note]] and is six movements full of epic, transcendent music. It continues the philosophical discourse of the previous two symphonies, but now turns to Nature for answers about Man's place in the universe.[[note]] To this end, Mahler conceived subtitles for each movement (though he removed them from the published score): "Pan Awakes, Summer Marches in", "What the Flowers in the Meadow Tell Me", "What the Animals in the Forest Tell Me", "What Man Tells Me", "What the Angels Tell Me", and "What Love Tells Me".[[/note]] The mammoth first movement sonata allegro starts with a modified version of the finale theme from Symphony No.1 by Creator/JohannesBrahms[[note]]The rhythm is the same, but the notes have been changed for the most part.[[/note]] played by the eight horns in unison to represent Pan's awakening, then turns into a large orchestral march full of ebb and flow that leads to an exuberant final flourish. The graceful second movement minuet provides a much-needed contrast to the previous movement's high drama, although it still finds time for moments of storminess. The wry third movement scherzo is cut from similar cloth to its counterpart from the ''Resurrection'' and quotes extensively from his earlier ''Lied'' "Ablösung im Sommer" (Relief in Summer),[[note]] Another setting from ''Des Knaben Wunderhorn'' that was originally published in 1892 as part of the collection ''Lieder und Gesänge'' (roughly "Songs and Chants").[[/note]] before the trio features an off-stage flugelhorn solo that fosters a more contemplative mood. The haunting, sparsely instrumented fourth movement has an alto solo singing a setting of Nietzsche's "Midnight Song" from ''Also sprach Zarathustra'', of which thematic material from the first movement is woven in. The cheerful fifth movement is a setting of "Es sungen drei Engel",[[note]] Another poem from ''Des Knaben Wunderborn'', loosely based on a 17th-century church hymn.[[/note]] upon which a children's choir imitating bells and a female chorus join the alto solo to sing about finding redemption and comfort through belief in a higher power. Such a build-up needs something special for a finale, and Mahler delivers with a movement that starts softly with a broad chorale in D major, then builds to a triumphant, full orchestral affirmation of his belief in God as Love, punctuated by DramaticTimpani.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgGuSn1bujw Symphony No.1]], sometimes nicknamed the ''Titan'', starts out calmly, though a bit unusually. The first movement, filled with bird calls and bugle fanfares, develops into an elaboration of Mahler's existing ''Lied'' "Ging heut' Morgen über's Feld". The second is based on a ''Ländler'', the boisterous country ancestor to the waltz, while the third movement combines a minor-key version of the children's song "Frere Jacques" with Jewish ''klezmer'' music. Then there is the fourth movement, which follows the quiet ending of the third with a sudden '''[[ScareChord CRASH-SCREECH-BOOM!]]''' and doesn't look back. [[MoodWhiplash Alternating between frantic and serene,]] the music finally makes up its mind in a massive brass fanfare (abruptly changing keys in the process) and carries on that way to the ending, with a brief resting interlude for strings along the way. The very ending brings all seven horns into play, along with at least five trumpets and four trombones, and an instruction Mahler wrote in the score for the horns to [[UpToEleven stand up at a particular point to get out as much sound as possible]]. Audiences at the premiere were [[ItWillNeverCatchOn completely baffled]] by the piece, but thankfully the listener at home can judge for themselves.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgGuSn1bujw Symphony No.1]], sometimes nicknamed the ''Titan'', starts out calmly, though a bit unusually. The first movement, filled with bird calls and bugle fanfares, develops into an elaboration of Mahler's existing ''Lied'' "Ging heut' Morgen über's Feld". The second is based on a ''Ländler'', the boisterous country ancestor to the waltz, while the third movement combines a minor-key version of the children's song "Frere Jacques" with Jewish ''klezmer'' music. Then there is the [[SomethingCompletelyDifferent fourth movement]], which follows the quiet ending of the third with a sudden '''[[ScareChord CRASH-SCREECH-BOOM!]]''' and doesn't look back. [[MoodWhiplash Alternating between frantic and serene,]] the music finally makes up its mind in a massive brass fanfare (abruptly changing keys in the process) and carries on that way to the ending, with a brief resting interlude for strings along the way. The very ending brings all seven horns into play, along with at least five trumpets and four trombones, and an instruction Mahler wrote in the score for the horns to [[UpToEleven stand up at a particular point to get out as much sound as possible]]. Audiences at the premiere were [[ItWillNeverCatchOn completely baffled]] by the piece, but thankfully the listener at home can judge for themselves.

* Any live (professional) performance of the mammoth [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtWJm4kuENM Symphony No.8]] (''The Symphony of a Thousand'') is almost guaranteed to be an awesome experience for both performers and audience, with a score calling for eight vocal soloists (three soprano, two alto, one each tenor, baritone, bass), two full choirs, a children's choir, and a massively augmented orchestra.[[note]] Two piccolos, four flutes, four oboes, a cor anglais, three B-flat clarinets, (at least) two E-flat clarinets, a bass clarinet, four bassoons, a contrabassoon, eight horns, four trumpets, four trombones, a tuba, a separate brass ensemble of four (or five) trumpets and three trombones, timpani (with two players), cymbals, bass drum, tam-tam, triangle, bells tuned to A and A-flat, glockenspiel, piano, harmonium, celesta, pipe organ, (at least) two to four harps, a mandolin (preferably several), and an enlarged string section.[[/note]] The nickname "Symphony of a Thousand" was intentional hyperbole on the part of music critics, but most performances involve at least five hundred musicians. Though it is in just two movements, the second movement is nearly an hour long and is a full setting of the final scene of [[Creator/JohannWolfgangVonGoethe Goethe's]] ''Theatre/{{Faust|SecondPartOfTheTragedy}}'', as various angels discuss what to do with the now deceased title character's soul, and it combines slow movement, scherzo, and finale into a vast epic which answers the musical questions posed by the first movement, a setting of the Latin hymn "Veni, creator spiritus". Particular highlights, especially in a live performance, include the very opening bars of the first movement (where the ''Resurrection'' waits until near the end to introduce the organ, the ''Symphony of a Thousand'' introduces the organ in the first measure), the full choir bellowing "Accende, accende lumen sensibus!" and the ensuing double fugue, the Pater Ecstaticus' first solo ("Ewiger Wonnebrand") as the second movement finally emerges from the shadows into the light, the Mater Gloriosa's solo (just two lines, but among the most soul-penetratingly beautiful in the symphony)[[note]] In many professional performances, the soprano performing the role of the Mater Gloriosa (who remains silent throughout the first movement) sings from a balcony or the organ loft rather than on the stage, a musical interpretation of Goethe's stage direction for the character's appearance.[[/note]] granting Gretchen permission to carry Faust's soul to Heaven, and the buildup to the triumphant orchestral coda (based on the opening "Veni, creator spiritus" melody) in the symphony's final minutes, another monumental testament to the belief that LoveRedeems. Mahler himself knew he'd written something quite remarkable (it was the first symphony to feature choral passages throughout rather than in just a few movements), and in a letter to conductor Willem Mengelberg, he wrote, "Try to imagine the whole universe beginning to ring and resound. There are no longer human voices, but planets and suns revolving."

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgGuSn1bujw Symphony No.1]], sometimes nicknamed the ''Titan'', starts out calmly, though a bit unusually. The first movement, filled with bird calls and bugle fanfares, develops into an elaboration of Mahler's existing ''Lied'' "Ging heut' Morgen über's Feld". The second is based on a ''Ländler'', the boisterous country ancestor to the waltz, while the third movement combines a minor-key version of the children's song "Frere Jacques" with Jewish ''klezmer'' music. Then there is the [[SomethingCompletelyDifferent fourth movement]], which follows the quiet ending of the third with a sudden '''[[ScareChord CRASH-SCREECH-BOOM!]]''' and doesn't look back. [[MoodWhiplash Alternating between frantic and serene,]] the music finally makes up its mind in a massive brass fanfare (abruptly changing keys in the process) and carries on that way to the ending, with a brief resting interlude for strings along the way. The very ending brings all seven (or eight, [[SerialEscalation or nine]]) horns into play, along with at least five trumpets and four trombones, and an instruction Mahler wrote in the score for the horns to [[UpToEleven stand up at a particular point to get out as much sound as possible]]. Audiences at the premiere were [[ItWillNeverCatchOn completely baffled]] by the piece, but thankfully the listener at home can judge for themselves.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCiKqIsF2IQ Symphony No.7]] has one of Mahler's most complex tonal schemes and is full to the brim with fantastic music.[[note]]It is sometimes nicknamed ''Song of the Night'' (''Lied der Nacht''), though Mahler never used this title himself.[[/note]] The sonata form first movement starts off slowly with a tenorhorn playing a melody in B minor over a rhythm inspired by rowing on the lake at Maiernigg. After the principal theme shifts the key to E minor, the violins then play the highly chromatic second theme, accompanied by sweeping cello arpeggios. At the heart of the development is a chorale inspired by the introduction with soft trumpet fanfares, believed to represent a religious vision and certainly spellbinding to listeners of any faith; a high C-sharp in the trumpet[[note]] Which frustrated the musician engaged to play it at the premiere; Mahler shrugged him off as not understanding the pain of existence.[[/note]] heralds a tense recapitulation that gives way to an expansive but ultimately radiant coda. The symphony's three inner movements all represent night in some way; two slow movements subtitled "Nachtmusik" frame a sinister scherzo. The first "Nachtmusik" movement evokes images of nature at night; an introduction featuring two horns calling to one another,[[note]] The second horn is muted to create the impression that it is answering from the distance.[[/note]] sarcastic imitation birdcalls in the woodwinds, and a quote of the major/minor motif from Symphony No.6 leads into a rondo based on three themes, one pastoral but modally ambiguous, one affable and dancelike, and one much more menacing. True to form, the scherzo sees Mahler at his most sardonic as it shows a less friendly side of nighttime, its hushed introduction giving way to an almost parodic imitation of a Viennese waltz with a more relaxed trio section; the true genius of the movement is its orchestration, as the theme and its accompaniment are passed around the whole orchestra, and at one memorable moment, the cellos and basses are instructed to pluck their strings so hard they strike the fingerboard.[[note]] A technique more commonly associated with Music/BelaBartok; perhaps "Bartók pizzicato" should be called "Mahler pizzicato"?[[/note]] The second Nachtmusik movement shifts the focus from nature to humanity, with a guitar (making its only appearance in a Mahler symphony) and a mandolin and reduced wind and brass forces creating the atmosphere of a romantic serenade, albeit one punctuated by angular dissonances along the way. As in Symphony No.5, Mahler finishes with a rondo which revels in a celebratory atmosphere to wrap things up in C major.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4p9MryrMNsU Symphony No.1]], sometimes nicknamed the ''Titan'', starts out calmly, though a bit unusually. The first movement, filled with bird calls and bugle fanfares, develops into an elaboration of Mahler's existing ''Lied'' "Ging heut' Morgen über's Feld". The second is based on a ''Ländler'', the boisterous country ancestor to the waltz, while the third movement combines a minor-key version of the children's song "Frere Jacques" with Jewish ''klezmer'' music. Then there is the [[SomethingCompletelyDifferent fourth movement]], which follows the quiet ending of the third with a sudden '''[[ScareChord CRASH-SCREECH-BOOM!]]''' and doesn't look back. [[MoodWhiplash Alternating between frantic and serene,]] the music finally makes up its mind in a massive brass fanfare (abruptly changing keys in the process) and carries on that way to the ending, with a brief resting interlude for strings along the way. The very ending brings all seven (or eight, [[SerialEscalation or nine]]) horns into play, along with at least five trumpets and four trombones, and an instruction Mahler wrote in the score for the horns to [[UpToEleven stand up at a particular point to get out as much sound as possible]]. Audiences at the premiere were [[ItWillNeverCatchOn completely baffled]] by the piece, but thankfully the listener at home can judge for themselves.

Music/GustavMahler wasn't a very prolific composer (his "day job" was conducting; he composed in his leisure time), his entire output comprising nine symphonies (plus a half-finished tenth), seven song cycles for voice and piano or orchestra, and one and a half movements of a piano quartet, but the music he did write is packed with awesome.

Music/GustavMahler was not a very prolific composer (his "day job" was conducting; he composed in his leisure time), his entire output comprising nine symphonies (plus a half-finished tenth), seven song cycles for voice and piano or orchestra, and one and a half movements of a piano quartet, but the music he did write is packed with awesome.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHlJhuS_3TA Symphony No.4]] is one of Mahler's shortest, clocking in at less than an hour for most performances and recordings. This does not make the music in it any less spellbinding, however. The first movement starts with an extremely jolly, almost [[Music/WolfgangAmadeusMozart Mozart]]-like intro that uses flutes and sleigh bells prominently and recurs at several critical moments, though the music finds time for fun in the "interruptions" of the main theme's attempts to get going. The second movement scherzo gives us more of Mahler's fondness for the grotesque, featuring a solo violin which has its strings tuned up a whole step[[note]]This practice is called ''scordatura''.[[/note]] in the role of Freund Hein ("Friend Henry").[[note]] Freund Hein (sometimes spelled Hain) was a personification of Death in mediaeval German folklore who took the form of a skeleton playing a ''Totentanz'' ("Danse macabre", or "dance of death") on his fiddle. Compare the ''Danse macabre'' by Camille Saint-Saëns, in which Death is also represented by a solo violinist employing scordatura.[[/note]] The third movement has a twist on the tried-and-true theme and variation form; while the theme is presented in the first 16 bars, the variations alternate with two extended laments, and only really get going near the end. In contrast to the happy, uplifting first movement, it is stormy and turbulent; a solo oboe plays a striking melody that perfectly encapsulates the movement's forlorn, heartbroken mood, and just as things seem to be settling down, a full orchestral YELL blows us back in our seats before giving way to a coda that remains unresolved to set things up for the finale. Said finale, the soprano aria "Das himmlische Leben", is the culmination of the first four symphonies' philosophical arc; the whole symphony was effectively composed backwards from it, so that melodic ideas introduced in the first three movements are united into a cohesive whole.[[note]] It is another ''Des Knaben Wunderhorn'' setting, originally composed as a standalone piece in 1892, seven years before the other three movements. Mahler originally planned to include it in Symphony No.3 under the title "What the Child Tells Me", and so fragments of this movement appear in the first, second, and fifth movements of that symphony.[[/note]] The text presents a sunny version of Heaven from a naive child's point of view, but it also includes a darker edge by making it clear that the heavenly feast being described comes at the expense of many animals.[[note]] In the score, Mahler strictly instructs the soprano soloist not to stray into the realm of parody in imitating a child's voice. In 1983, Benjamin Zander and the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra took a different approach to Mahler's instructions by having a boy soprano sing in the finale.[[/note]] But in the beatific final three minutes, the orchestration is pared back and the music modulates from the symphony's nominal home key of G major to the "heavenly key" of E major (and, unusually, remains there) for a declaration that no music on Earth can compare to the music of Heaven, ending the symphony - and the whole tetraology - in a mood of total serenity.

* The fourth movement Adagietto of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjmthMDpyco Symphony No.5]] is Mahler's most famous composition, and is often performed separately from the other movements[[note]]In fact, the British premiere for the rest of the symphony came 36 years after the Adagietto was played by itself at the Proms in 1909.[[/note]] - which is a pity, as they're well worth a listen, and the Adagietto sounds even better in its wider context. The symphony's five movements are generally regarded as forming three groups; the first two movements are thematically linked, as are the last two (which are played without a break). The first movement opens with a solo trumpet intoning a rhythmic motive reminiscent of the intro for Music/LudwigVanBeethoven's Symphony No.5 before turning into a solemn funeral march with occasional violent outburtsts. The second movement, which roughly follows the outline of a sonata allegro, is an emotional whirlwind as the melancholy of the first movement gives way to more impassioned grief, building on material from the funeral march (and with occasional directions to revert to the previous movement's tempo) and rising to an ecstatic climax before fading into the shadows. The third movement scherzo is the symphony's longest, and plays like a collision between a waltz and a Ländler, defying all attempts to pinpoint where a trio section might begin or end, and requiring the utmost technical and interpretive skill to unite its disparate ideas into a coherent whole. The rightly famous fourth movement (scored for strings and harp only) defines ''Adagietto'' just as much as the second movement from Beethoven's Symphony No.7 defines ''Allegretto'', its heart-stopping beauty and tranquility conveying a sense of emotions deeply felt yet sparingly expressed. But just as it settles into its blissful final measures, a single French horn sounds to lead us straight into the fifth movement rondo (an unusual movement to close a symphony with), a contrapuntal showcase that uses material from the Adagietto as well as the chorale from the second movement to end on a note of triumph, worlds away from the clouds of the opening funeral march.

* Relatively speaking, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHlJhuS_3TA Symphony No.4]] is Mahler's shortest, clocking in at less than an hour for most performances and recordings. This does not make the music in it any less spellbinding, however. The first movement starts with an extremely jolly, almost [[Music/WolfgangAmadeusMozart Mozart]]-like intro that uses flutes and sleigh bells prominently and recurs at several critical moments, though the music finds time for fun in the "interruptions" of the main theme's attempts to get going. The second movement scherzo gives us more of Mahler's fondness for the grotesque, featuring a solo violin which has its strings tuned up a whole step[[note]]This practice is called ''scordatura''.[[/note]] in the role of Freund Hein ("Friend Henry").[[note]] Freund Hein (sometimes spelled Hain) was a personification of Death in mediaeval German folklore who took the form of a skeleton playing a ''Totentanz'' ("Danse macabre", or "dance of death") on his fiddle. Compare the ''Danse macabre'' by Camille Saint-Saëns, in which Death is also represented by a solo violinist employing scordatura.[[/note]] The third movement has a twist on the tried-and-true theme and variation form; while the theme is presented in the first 16 bars, the variations alternate with two extended laments, and only really get going near the end. In contrast to the happy, uplifting first movement, it is stormy and turbulent; a solo oboe plays a striking melody that perfectly encapsulates the movement's forlorn, heartbroken mood, and just as things seem to be settling down, a full orchestral YELL blows us back in our seats before giving way to a coda that remains unresolved to set things up for the finale. Said finale, the soprano aria "Das himmlische Leben", is the culmination of the first four symphonies' philosophical arc; the whole symphony was effectively composed backwards from it, so that melodic ideas introduced in the first three movements are united into a cohesive whole.[[note]] It is another ''Des Knaben Wunderhorn'' setting, originally composed as a standalone piece in 1892, seven years before the other three movements. Mahler originally planned to include it in Symphony No.3 under the title "What the Child Tells Me", and so fragments of this movement appear in the first, second, and fifth movements of that symphony.[[/note]] The text presents a sunny version of Heaven from a naive child's point of view, but it also includes a darker edge by making it clear that the heavenly feast being described comes at the expense of many animals.[[note]] In the score, Mahler strictly instructs the soprano soloist not to stray into the realm of parody in imitating a child's voice. In 1983, Benjamin Zander and the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra took a different approach to Mahler's instructions by having a boy soprano sing in the finale.[[/note]] But in the beatific final three minutes, the orchestration is pared back and the music modulates from the symphony's nominal home key of G major to the "heavenly key" of E major (and, unusually, remains there) for a declaration that no music on Earth can compare to the music of Heaven, ending the symphony - and the whole tetraology - in a mood of total serenity.

* The fourth movement Adagietto of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjmthMDpyco Symphony No.5]] is Mahler's most famous composition, and is often performed separately from the other movements[[note]]In fact, the British premiere for the rest of the symphony came 36 years after the Adagietto was played by itself at the Proms in 1909.[[/note]] - which is a pity, as they're well worth a listen, and the Adagietto sounds even better in its wider context. The symphony's five movements are generally regarded as forming three groups; the first two movements are thematically linked, as are the last two (which are played without a break). The first movement opens with a solo trumpet intoning a rhythmic motive reminiscent of the intro for Music/LudwigVanBeethoven's Symphony No.5 before turning into a solemn funeral march with occasional violent outburtsts. The second movement, which roughly follows the outline of a sonata allegro, is an emotional whirlwind as the melancholy of the first movement gives way to more impassioned grief, building on material from the funeral march (and with occasional directions to revert to the previous movement's tempo) and rising to an ecstatic climax before fading into the shadows. The third movement scherzo is the symphony's longest, and plays like a collision between a waltz and a Ländler, defying all attempts to pinpoint where a trio section might begin or end, and requiring the utmost technical and intepretive skill to unite its disparate ideas into a coherent whole. The rightly famous fourth movement (scored for strings and harp only) defines ''Adagietto'' just as much as the second movement from Beethoven's Symphony No.7 defines ''Allegretto'', its heart-stopping beauty and tranquility conveying a sense of emotions deeply felt yet sparingly expressed. But just as it settles into its blissful final measures, a single French horn sounds to lead us straight into the fifth movement rondo (an unusual movement to close a symphony with), a contrapuntal showcase that uses material from the Adagietto as well as the chorale from the second movement to end on a note of triumph, worlds away from the clouds of the opening funeral march.

* Relatively speaking, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHlJhuS_3TA Symphony No.4]] is one of his shorter symphonies, clocking in at less than an hour for most performances and recordings. This does not make the music in it any less spellbinding, however. The first movement starts with an extremely jolly, almost [[Music/WolfgangAmadeusMozart Mozart]]-like intro that uses flutes and sleigh bells prominently and recurs at several critical moments, though the music finds time for fun in the "interruptions" of the main theme's attempts to get going. The second movement scherzo gives us more of Mahler's fondness for the grotesque, featuring a solo violin which has its strings tuned up a whole step[[note]]This practice is called ''scordatura''.[[/note]] in the role of Freund Hein ("Friend Henry").[[note]] Freund Hein (sometimes spelled Hain) was a personification of Death in mediaeval German folklore who took the form of a skeleton playing a ''Totentanz'' ("Danse macabre", or "dance of death") on his fiddle. Compare the ''Danse macabre'' by Camille Saint-Saëns, in which Death is also represented by a solo violinist employing scordatura.[[/note]] The third movement has a twist on the tried-and-true theme and variation form; while the theme is presented in the first 16 bars, the variations alternate with two extended laments, and only really get going near the end. In contrast to the happy, uplifting first movement, it is stormy and turbulent; a solo oboe plays a striking melody that perfectly encapsulates the movement's forlorn, heartbroken mood, and just as things seem to be settling down, a full orchestral YELL blows us back in our seats before giving way to a coda that remains unresolved to set things up for the finale. Said finale, the soprano aria "Das himmlische Leben", is the culmination of the first four symphonies' philosophical arc; the whole symphony was effectively composed backwards from it, so that melodic ideas introduced in the first three movements are united into a cohesive whole.[[note]] It is another ''Des Knaben Wunderhorn'' setting, originally composed as a standalone piece in 1892, seven years before the other three movements. Mahler originally planned to include it in Symphony No.3 under the title "What the Child Tells Me", and so fragments of this movement appear in the first, second, and fifth movements of that symphony.[[/note]] The text presents a sunny version of Heaven from a naive child's point of view, but it also includes a darker edge by making it clear that the heavenly feast being described comes at the expense of many animals.[[note]] In the score, Mahler strictly instructs the soprano soloist not to stray into the realm of parody in imitating a child's voice. In 1983, Benjamin Zander and the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra took a different approach to Mahler's instructions by having a boy soprano sing in the finale.[[/note]] But in the beatific final three minutes, the orchestration is pared back and the music modulates from the symphony's nominal home key of G major to the "heavenly key" of E major (and, unusually, remains there) for a declaration that no music on Earth can compare to the music of Heaven, ending the symphony - and the whole tetraology - in a mood of total serenity.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g67Ifyeau0Y&t=4m56s Symphony No.3]] is Mahler's longest, having once featured in ''The Guinness Book of World Records'' as the ''world's'' longest symphony,[[note]] Even a brisk performance takes well over 90 minutes, while the other eight all clock in between 55 and 90 minutes in most performances. It remains the longest symphony in the standard repertoire; the record-holder according to the ''Guinness Book'', Havergal Brian's Symphony No.1 (''Gothic''), is about 10-15 minutes longer, but has only been performed in its entirety six times. And that's not getting into symphonies that are longer on paper, such as Kaikhosru Sorabji's ''Jami'' symphony (four and a half hours) or Dimitrie Cuclin's Symphony No.12 (six hours), but have never been performed or recorded. (If one counts organ symphonies, Sorabji's Organ Symphony No.2 lasts a finger-ruining ''eight and a half'' hours.)[[/note]] and is six movements full of epic, transcendent music. It continues the philosophical discourse of the previous two symphonies, but now turns to Nature for answers about Man's place in the universe.[[note]] To this end, Mahler conceived subtitles for each movement (though he removed them from the published score): "Pan Awakes, Summer Marches in", "What the Flowers in the Meadow Tell Me", "What the Animals in the Forest Tell Me", "What Man Tells Me", "What the Angels Tell Me", and "What Love Tells Me".[[/note]] The mammoth first movement sonata allegro starts with a modified version of the finale theme from Symphony No.1 by Creator/JohannesBrahms[[note]]The rhythm is the same, but the notes have been changed for the most part.[[/note]] played by the eight horns in unison to represent Pan's awakening, then turns into a large orchestral march full of ebb and flow that leads to an exuberant final flourish. The graceful second movement minuet provides a much-needed contrast to the previous movement's high drama, although it still finds time for moments of storminess. The wry third movement scherzo is cut from similar cloth to its counterpart from the ''Resurrection'' and quotes extensively from his earlier ''Lied'' "Ablösung im Sommer" (Relief in Summer),[[note]] Another setting from ''Des Knaben Wunderhorn'' that was originally published in 1892 as part of the collection ''Lieder und Gesänge'' (roughly "Songs and Chants").[[/note]] before the trio features an off-stage flugelhorn solo that fosters a more contemplative mood. The haunting, sparsely instrumented fourth movement has an alto solo singing a setting of Nietzsche's "Midnight Song" from ''Also sprach Zarathustra'', of which thematic material from the first movement is woven in. The cheerful fifth movement is a setting of "Es sungen drei Engel",[[note]] Another poem from ''Des Knaben Wunderborn'', loosely based on a 17th-century church hymn.[[/note]] upon which a children's choir imitating bells and a female chorus join the alto solo to sing about finding redemption and comfort through belief in a higher power. Such a build-up needs something special for a finale, and Mahler delivers with a movement that starts softly with a broad chorale in D major, then builds to a triumphant, full orchestral affirmation of his belief in God as Love, punctuated by DramaticTimpani.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g67Ifyeau0Y&t=4m56s Symphony No.3]] is Mahler's longest, having once featured in ''The Guinness Book of World Records'' as the ''world's'' longest symphony,[[note]] Even a brisk performance takes well over 90 minutes, while the other eight all clock in between 55 and 85 minutes in most performances. It remains the longest symphony in the standard repertoire; the record-holder according to the ''Guinness Book'', Havergal Brian's Symphony No.1 (''Gothic''), is about 10-15 minutes longer, but has only been performed in its entirety six times. And that's not getting into symphonies that are longer on paper, such as Kaikhosru Sorabji's ''Jami'' symphony (four and a half hours) or Dimitrie Cuclin's Symphony No.12 (six hours), but have never been performed or recorded. (If one counts organ symphonies, Sorabji's Organ Symphony No.2 lasts a finger-ruining ''eight and a half'' hours.)[[/note]] and is six movements full of epic, transcendent music. It continues the philosophical discourse of the previous two symphonies, but now turns to Nature for answers about Man's place in the universe.[[note]] To this end, Mahler conceived subtitles for each movement (though he removed them from the published score): "Pan Awakes, Summer Marches in", "What the Flowers in the Meadow Tell Me", "What the Animals in the Forest Tell Me", "What Man Tells Me", "What the Angels Tell Me", and "What Love Tells Me".[[/note]] The mammoth first movement sonata allegro starts with a modified version of the finale theme from Symphony No.1 by Creator/JohannesBrahms[[note]]The rhythm is the same, but the notes have been changed for the most part.[[/note]] played by the eight horns in unison to represent Pan's awakening, then turns into a large orchestral march full of ebb and flow that leads to an exuberant final flourish. The graceful second movement minuet provides a much-needed contrast to the previous movement's high drama, although it still finds time for moments of storminess. The wry third movement scherzo is cut from similar cloth to its counterpart from the ''Resurrection'' and quotes extensively from his earlier ''Lied'' "Ablösung im Sommer" (Relief in Summer),[[note]] Another setting from ''Des Knaben Wunderhorn'' that was originally published in 1892 as part of the collection ''Lieder und Gesänge'' (roughly "Songs and Chants").[[/note]] before the trio features an off-stage flugelhorn solo that fosters a more contemplative mood. The haunting, sparsely instrumented fourth movement has an alto solo singing a setting of Nietzsche's "Midnight Song" from ''Also sprach Zarathustra'', of which thematic material from the first movement is woven in. The cheerful fifth movement is a setting of "Es sungen drei Engel",[[note]] Another poem from ''Des Knaben Wunderborn'', loosely based on a 17th-century church hymn.[[/note]] upon which a children's choir imitating bells and a female chorus join the alto solo to sing about finding redemption and comfort through belief in a higher power. Such a build-up needs something special for a finale, and Mahler delivers with a movement that starts softly with a broad chorale in D major, then builds to a triumphant, full orchestral affirmation of his belief in God as Love, punctuated by DramaticTimpani.

* Calling ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idRevTkIPts Das Lied von der Erde]]'' (''The Song of the Earth'') a symphony remains contentious, but whether it is a symphony, a song cycle, or a hybrid of the two, it is one of Mahler's most powerful orchestral compositions.[[note]] By composing a "ninth" yet unnumbered "symphony", Mahler believed he had beaten the "Curse of the Ninth" when he composed Symphony No.9... only to die before he could finish No.10.[[/note]] The text is drawn from six poems from ''Die chinesische Flöte'', a collection of ancient Chinese poetry translated into German by Hans Bethge, with a solo tenor in the odd-numbered movements and a solo alto in the even-numbered movements.[[note]] Or, if no suitable altos can be found, a solo baritone. Music/LeonardBernstein and the Vienna Philharmonic made a particularly acclaimed recording in 1967 with American tenor James King and German baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.[[/note]] The tenor gets things going with "Das Trinklied vom Jammer der Erde" ("The Drinking Song of Earth's Misery"), its morose atmosphere encapsulated in the recurring lines "Dunkel ist das Leben, ist der Tod!"[[note]] "Dark is life, is death!"[[/note]] and its technical demands exemplified by its high register by tenor standards. The alto gets a more intimately scored, less demanding first outing in "Der Einsame im Herbst" ("The Lonely One in Autumn"), a lament about the withering of beauty with age. Mahler gives the tenor a bit of a break in the third movement scherzo, "Von der Jugend" ("Of Youth"), which pays tribute to the text's Chinese origin with heavy use of pentatonic melodies. The alto takes over for "Von der Schönheit" ("Of Beauty"), a gentle slow movement with a long instrumental coda depicting LoveAtFirstSight between a young lady picking lotus flowers and a young man on horseback. The tenor gets a second drinking song in the fifth movement, "Der Trunkene im Frühling" ("The Drunken Man in Spring"), a lively scherzo characterised by constantly changing key signatures. But as ever, it is the final movement, the alto's "Der Abschied" ("The Farewell"), that contains the majority of the work's emotional weight (and length; it is nearly as long as the first five movements combined), and it is a fine illustration of Mahler's keen judgement when it comes to using music to enhance poetic text. The singer's lute is represented by a mandolin in the orchestra, singing birds are represented by the woodwinds, and as the mood shifts between sombre and hopeful, the mode shifts between minor and major, ultimately settling into an enigmatic yet thoroughly arresting C major sixth chord.[[note]] Fun fact for fans of Music/TheBeatles: this chord is the one music critic William Mann of ''The Times'' likened to the end of "Not a Second Time". Even people who, unlike Music/JohnLennon, understood Mann's analysis thought it was nonsense.[[/note]]

* Calling ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idRevTkIPts Das Lied von der Erde]]'' (''The Song of the Earth'') a symphony remains contentious, but whether it is a symphony, a song cycle, or a hybrid of the two, it is one of Mahler's most powerful orchestral compositions.[[note]] By composing a "ninth" yet unnumbered "symphony", Mahler believed he had beaten the "Curse of the Ninth" when he composed Symphony No.9... only to die before he could finish No.10.[[/note]] The text is drawn from six poems from ''Die chinesische Flöte'', a collection of ancient Chinese poetry translated into German by Hans Bethge, with a solo tenor in the odd-numbered movements and a solo alto in the even-numbered movements.[[note]] Or, if no suitable altos can be found, a solo baritone.[[/note]] The tenor gets things going with "Das Trinklied vom Jammer der Erde" ("The Drinking Song of Earth's Misery"), its morose atmosphere encapsulated in the recurring lines "Dunkel ist das Leben, ist der Tod!"[[note]] "Dark is life, is death!"[[/note]] and its technical demands exemplified by its high register by tenor standards. The alto gets a more intimately scored, less demanding first outing in "Der Einsame im Herbst" ("The Lonely One in Autumn"), a lament about the withering of beauty with age. Mahler gives the tenor a bit of a break in the third movement scherzo, "Von der Jugend" ("Of Youth"), which pays tribute to the text's Chinese origin with heavy use of pentatonic melodies. The alto takes over for "Von der Schönheit" ("Of Beauty"), a gentle slow movement with a long instrumental coda depicting LoveAtFirstSight between a young lady picking lotus flowers and a young man on horseback. The tenor gets a second drinking song in the fifth movement, "Der Trunkene im Frühling" ("The Drunken Man in Spring"), a lively scherzo characterised by constantly changing key signatures. But as ever, it is the final movement, the alto's "Der Abschied" ("The Farewell"), that contains the majority of the work's emotional weight (and length; it is nearly as long as the first five movements combined), and it is a fine illustration of Mahler's keen judgement when it comes to using music to enhance poetic text. The singer's lute is represented by a mandolin in the orchestra, singing birds are represented by the woodwinds, and as the mood shifts between sombre and hopeful, the mode shifts between minor and major, ultimately settling into an enigmatic yet thoroughly arresting C major sixth chord.[[note]] Fun fact for fans of Music/TheBeatles: this chord is the one music critic William Mann of ''The Times'' likened to the end of "Not a Second Time". Even people who, unlike Music/JohnLennon, understood Mann's analysis thought it was nonsense.[[/note]]

* The brutal [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9oGPI-MxX8 Symphony No.6]][[note]] Sometimes nicknamed ''Tragic'', though Mahler himself never used this name.[[/note]] is the black sheep of Mahler's symphonies in several senses of the phrase. The dark, almost nihilistic atmosphere that pervades most of the symphony is announced immediately by the thunderous introduction to the marchlike first movement, and encapsulated in the recurring motif of an A major triad fading into A minor over a rhythmic timpani figure; a brighter secondary theme, sometimes known as "Alma's theme" off the composer's widow's claim that it represented her, offers a respite from the tragedy, though the major key coda that re-works this theme is anything but triumphant. The middle movements include a weighty scherzo that re-works material from the first movement in 3/4 time (rather than the original 4/4) and features a more easy-going trio with constantly shifting metre, and an introspective Andante that is more lightly scored than the other movements and provides the closest the symphony has to a moment of calm, though the clouds are never far away.[[note]] Notice that neither movement is described as the "second" or "third"; Mahler kept changing his mind over whether to put the scherzo before the Andante or vice versa. The first published edition put the scherzo first, but the premiere performance put the Andante first, and it is believed that this was the order Mahler settled on, but Alma Gropius (as she was by then) told conductor Willem Mengelberg in 1919 that the scherzo should come first. It is worth noting that the scherzo borrows heavily from the first movement, while the finale begins with a transition from the E-flat major of the Andante to the A minor of the rest of the movement by way of C minor; putting the Andante before the scherzo upsets these links. But then again, Mahler himself said the Andante should come before the scherzo, so the argument is unlikely to be settled any time soon. A survey of recordings and performances reveals that putting the scherzo before the Andante is the favoured approach, but not by as much as it once was.[[/note]] Things take a turn for the truly dark in the finale, a vast sonata allegro punctuated by three hammer blows (often achieved by having a percussionist slam a sledgehammer or similar tool into a large block of wood), said by Mahler to represent three "mighty blows of fate" on the symphony's "hero", "the last of which fells him like a tree"; however, the intensely superstitious composer believed that the third hammer blow would signal his own demise, and removed it in later editions of the score, leaving a silence that can be just as soul-chilling as the hammer blows.[[note]] As with the order of the inner movements, whether or not the third hammer blow should be included is a matter of intense debate among Mahler scholars; Music/LeonardBernstein was among those who advocated for its inclusion.[[/note]] The timpani rhythm from the first movement returns to close the symphony, but now unambiguously in the gloom of A minor, under an anguished SHRIEK from the full orchestra that evaporates before a hushed final pizzicato chord.

* Any live (professional) performance of the mammoth [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtWJm4kuENM Symphony No.8]] (''The Symphony of a Thousand'') is almost guaranteed to be an awesome experience for both performers and audience, with a score calling for eight vocal soloists (three soprano, two alto, one each tenor, baritone, bass), two full choirs, a children's choir, and a massively augmented orchestra.[[note]] Two piccolos, four flutes, four oboes, a cor anglais, three B-flat clarinets, (at least) two E-flat clarinets, a bass clarinet, four bassoons, a contrabassoon, eight horns, four trumpets, four trombones, a tuba, a separate brass ensemble of four (or five) trumpets and three trombones, timpani (with two players), cymbals, bass drum, tam-tam, triangle, bells tuned to A and A-flat, glockenspiel, piano, harmonium, celesta, pipe organ, (at least) two to four harps, a mandolin (preferably several), and an enlarged string section.[[/note]] The nickname "Symphony of a Thousand" was intentional hyperbole on the part of music critics, but most performances involve at least five hundred musicians. Though it is in just two movements, the second movement is nearly an hour long and is a full setting of the final scene of [[Creator/JohannWolfgangVonGoethe Goethe's]] ''Theatre/{{Faust|SecondPartOfTheTragedy}}'', as various angels discuss what to do with the now deceased title character's soul, and it combines slow movement, scherzo, and finale into a vast epic which answers the musical questions posed by the first movement, a setting of the Latin hymn "Veni, creator spiritus". Particular highlights, especially in a live performance, include the very opening bars of the first movement (where the ''Resurrection'' waits until near the end to introduce the organ, the ''Symphony of a Thousand'' introduces the organ in the first measure), the full choir bellowing "Accende, accende lumen sensibus!" and the ensuing double fugue, the Pater Ecstaticus' first solo ("Ewiger Wonnebrand") as the second movement finally emerges from the shadows into the light, the Mater Gloriosa's solo (just two lines, but among the most soul-penetratingly beautiful in the symphony)[[note]] In many professional performances, the soprano performing the role of the Mater Gloriosa sings from a balcony or the organ loft rather than on the stage.[[/note]] granting Gretchen permission to carry Faust's soul to Heaven, and the buildup to the triumphant orchestral coda in the symphony's final minutes, another monumental testament to the belief that LoveRedeems. Mahler himself knew he'd written something quite remarkable (it was the first symphony to feature choral passages throughout rather than in just a few movements), and in a letter to conductor Willem Mengelberg, he wrote, "Try to imagine the whole universe beginning to ring and resound. There are no longer human voices, but planets and suns revolving."

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g67Ifyeau0Y&t=4m56s Symphony No.3]] is Mahler's longest, having once featured in ''The Guinness Book of World Records'' as the ''world's'' longest symphony,[[note]] Even a brisk performance takes well over 90 minutes, while the other eight all clock in between 55 and 85 minutes in most performances. It remains the longest symphony in the standard repertoire; the record-holder according to the ''Guinness Book'', Havergal Brian's Symphony No.1 (''Gothic''), is about 10-15 minutes longer, but has only been performed in its entirety six times. And that's not getting into symphonies that are longer on paper, such as Kaikhosru Sorabji's ''Jami'' symphony (four and a half hours) or Dimitrie Cuclin's Symphony No.12 (six hours), but have never been performed or recorded. (If one counts organ symphonies, Sorabji's Organ Symphony No.2 lasts a finger-ruining eight and a half hours.)[[/note]] and is six movements full of epic, transcendent music. It continues the philosophical discourse of the previous two symphonies, but now turns to Nature for answers about Man's place in the universe.[[note]] To this end, Mahler conceived subtitles for each movement (though he removed them from the published score): "Pan Awakes, Summer Marches in", "What the Flowers in the Meadow Tell Me", "What the Animals in the Forest Tell Me", "What Man Tells Me", "What the Angels Tell Me", and "What Love Tells Me".[[/note]] The mammoth first movement sonata allegro starts with a modified version of the finale theme from Symphony No.1 by Creator/JohannesBrahms[[note]]The rhythm is the same, but the notes have been changed for the most part.[[/note]] played by the eight horns in unison to represent Pan's awakening, then turns into a large orchestral march full of ebb and flow that leads to an exuberant final flourish. The graceful second movement minuet provides a much-needed contrast to the previous movement's high drama, although it still finds time for moments of storminess. The wry third movement scherzo is cut from similar cloth to its counterpart from the ''Resurrection'' and quotes extensively from his earlier ''Lied'' "Ablösung im Sommer" (Relief in Summer),[[note]] Another setting from ''Des Knaben Wunderhorn'' that was originally published in 1892 as part of the collection ''Lieder und Gesänge'' (roughly "Songs and Chants").[[/note]] before the trio features an off-stage flugelhorn solo that fosters a more contemplative mood. The haunting, sparsely instrumented fourth movement has an alto solo singing a setting of Nietzsche's "Midnight Song" from ''Also sprach Zarathustra'', of which thematic material from the first movement is woven in. The cheerful fifth movement is a setting of "Es sungen drei Engel",[[note]] Another poem from ''Des Knaben Wunderborn'', loosely based on a 17th-century church hymn.[[/note]] upon which a children's choir imitating bells and a female chorus join the alto solo to sing about finding redemption and comfort through belief in a higher power. Such a build-up needs something special for a finale, and Mahler delivers with a movement that starts softly with a broad chorale in D major, then builds to a triumphant, full orchestral affirmation of his belief in God as Love, punctuated by DramaticTimpani.
* Relatively speaking, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHlJhuS_3TA Symphony No.4]] is one of his shorter symphonies, clocking in at less than an hour for most performances and recordings. This does not make the music in it any less spellbinding, however. The first movement starts with an extremely jolly, almost [[Music/WolfgangAmadeusMozart Mozart]]-like intro that uses flutes and sleigh bells prominently and recurs at several critical moments, though the music finds time for fun in the "interruptions" of the main theme's attempts to get going. The second movement scherzo gives us more of Mahler's fondness for the grotesque, featuring a solo violin which has its strings tuned up a whole step[[note]]This practice is called ''scordatura''.[[/note]] in the role of Freund Hein ("Friend Henry").[[note]] Freund Hein (sometimes spelled Hain) was a personification of Death in mediaeval German folklore who took the form of a skeleton playing a ''Totentanz'' ("Danse macabre", or "dance of death") on his fiddle. Compare the ''Danse macabre'' by Camille Saint-Saens, in which Death is also represented by a solo violinist employing scordatura.[[/note]] The third movement has a twist on the tried-and-true theme and variation form; while the theme is presented in the first 16 bars, the variations alternate with two extended laments, and only really get going near the end. In contrast to the happy, uplifting first movement, it is stormy and turbulent; a solo oboe plays a striking melody that perfectly encapsulates the movement's forlorn, heartbroken mood, and just as things seem to be settling down, a full orchestral YELL blows us back in our seats before giving way to a coda that remains unresolved to set things up for the finale. Said finale, the soprano aria "Das himmlische Leben", is the culmination of the first four symphonies' philosophical arc; the whole symphony was effectively composed backwards from it, so that melodic ideas introduced in the first three movements are united into a cohesive whole.[[note]] It is another ''Des Knaben Wunderhorn'' setting, originally composed as a standalone piece in 1892, seven years before the other three movements. Mahler originally planned to include it in Symphony No.3 under the title "What the Child Tells Me", and so fragments of this movement appear in the first, second, and fifth movements of that symphony.[[/note]] The text presents a sunny version of Heaven from a naive child's point of view, but it also includes a darker edge by making it clear that the heavenly feast being described comes at the expense of many animals.[[note]] In the score, Mahler strictly instructs the soprano soloist not to stray into the realm of parody in imitating a child's voice. In 1983, Benjamin Zander and the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra took a different approach to Mahler's instructions by having a boy soprano sing in the finale.[[/note]] But in the beatific final three minutes, the orchestration is pared back and the music modulates from the symphony's nominal home key of G major to the "heavenly key" of E major (and, unusually, remains there) for a declaration that no music on Earth can compare to the music of Heaven, ending the symphony - and the whole tetraology - in a mood of total serenity.

* "Awesome" might not be the ideal word to describe [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoNEeKJ2x44 Symphony No.9,]] as it is the most low-key of Mahler's symphonies - it is the only one to both open and close with slow movements - but the music in it is so beautiful and so radiant that awe is a natural reaction. The first movement begins on hallowed ground as rhythmic and melodic ideas that recur throughout the ensuing sonata allegro are gradually assembled, most notably a syncopated rhythm[[note]] Interpreted by Music/LeonardBernstein as a depiction of Mahler's irregular heartbeat, a symptom of the heart disease that led to his death at the age of 51.[[/note]] that thunders forth in the low brass in the middle of the movement, and a falling major second that sounds like a half-finished sentence, only resolving properly at the very end of the movement. The inner movements are both acerbic in character; the second movement scherzo blends a comically exaggerated Ländler with a distorted waltz, both dances Mahler used prolifically in his symphonic scherzi, but now pushed to the boundary of self-parody. The third movement is subtitled "Rondo-Burleske", blending Baroque counterpoint with harsh dissonances to create an atmosphere far more dark than funny, yet never less than fascinating. The finale is the slowest of the four movements and the most sparsely scored, opening with an impassioned cry from the violins that heralds a hymnlike main theme.[[note]] It is particularly reminiscent of ''Eventide'', AKA "Abide With Me".[[/note]] As the movement unfolds, tonality is broken down and re-assembled, a melody from the "Rondo-Burleske" undergoes a startling transformation into a heartfelt elegy, and the violins quote a passage from "Oft denk' ich, sie sind nur ausgegangen" from ''Kindertotenlieder'', all building (or, perhaps, descending) to the final two pages for strings only, as the music slowly fades away, its final note marked ''ersterbend'' ("dying away"). Yet while there is an undeniable sense of solemn valediction, the atmosphere is one not of tragedy but of release, as though Mahler is saying "Though I die, I go to a better place, and I leave you this music to remember me by."[[note]] Emphasis on "as though", as when Mahler finished the symphony, he thought he was in better health than he actually was, and he was preparing for a busy season as conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and working on the early sketches of his Symphony No.10.[[/note]]

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCiKqIsF2IQ Symphony No.7]] has one of Mahler's most complex tonal schemes and is full to the brim with fantastic music.[[note]]It is sometimes nicknamed ''Song of the Night'' (''Lied der Nacht''), though Mahler never used this title himself.[[/note]] The sonata form first movement starts off slowly with a tenorhorn playing a melody in B minor over a rhythm inspired by rowing on the lake at Maiernigg. After the principal theme shifts the key to E minor, the violins then play the highly chromatic second theme, accompanied by sweeping cello arpeggios. At the heart of the development is a chorale inspired by the introduction with soft trumpet fanfares, believed to represent a religious vision and certainly spellbinding to listeners of any faith; a high C-sharp in the trumpet[[note]] Which frustrated the musician engaged to play it at the premiere; Mahler shrugged him off as not understanding the pain of existence.[[/note]] heralds a tense recapitulation that gives way to an expansive but ultimately radiant coda. The symphony's three inner movements all represent night in some way; two slow movements subtitled "Nachtmusik" frame a sinister scherzo. The first "Nachtmusik" movement evokes images of nature at night; an introduction featuring two horns calling to one another,[[note]] The second horn is muted to create the impression that it is answering from the distance.[[/note]] sarcastic imitation birdcalls in the woodwinds, and a quote of the major/minor motif from Symphony No.6 leads into a rondo based on three themes, one pastoral but modally ambiguous, one affable and dancelike, and one much more menacing. True to form, the scherzo sees Mahler at his most sardonic as it shows a less friendly side of nighttime, its hushed introduction giving way to an almost parodic imitation of a Viennese waltz with a more relaxed trio section; the true genius of the movement is its orchestration, as the theme and its accompaniment are passed around the whole orchestra, and at one memorable moment, the cellos and basses are instructed to pluck their strings so hard they strike the fingerboard.[[note]] A technique more commonly associated with Béla Bartók; perhaps "Bartók pizzicato" should be called "Mahler pizzicato"?[[/note]] The second Nachtmusik movement shifts the focus from nature to humanity, with a guitar (making its only appearance in a Mahler symphony) and a mandolin and reduced wind and brass forces creating the atmosphere of a romantic serenade, albeit one punctuated by angular dissonances along the way. As in Symphony No.5, Mahler finishes with a rondo which revels in a celebratory atmosphere to wrap things up in C major.

* Any live (professional) performance of the mammoth [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KugLAIzW3u8 Symphony No.8]] (''The Symphony of a Thousand'') is almost guaranteed to be an awesome experience for both performers and audience, with a score calling for eight vocal soloists (three soprano, two alto, one each tenor, baritone, bass), two full choirs, a children's choir, and a massively augmented orchestra.[[note]] Two piccolos, four flutes, four oboes, a cor anglais, three B-flat clarinets, (at least) two E-flat clarinets, a bass clarinet, four bassoons, a contrabassoon, eight horns, four trumpets, four trombones, a tuba, a separate brass ensemble of four (or five) trumpets and three trombones, timpani (with two players), cymbals, bass drum, tam-tam, triangle, bells tuned to A and A-flat, glockenspiel, piano, harmonium, celesta, pipe organ, (at least) two to four harps, a mandolin (preferably several), and an enlarged string section.[[/note]] The nickname "Symphony of a Thousand" was intentional hyperbole on the part of music critics, but most performances involve at least five hundred musicians. Though it is in just two movements, the second movement is nearly an hour long and is a full setting of the final scene of [[Creator/JohannWolfgangVonGoethe Goethe's]] ''Theatre/{{Faust|SecondPartOfTheTragedy}}'', as various angels discuss what to do with the now deceased title character's soul, and it combines slow movement, scherzo, and finale into a vast epic which answers the musical questions posed by the first movement, a setting of the Latin hymn "Veni, creator spiritus". Particular highlights, especially in a live performance, include the very opening bars of the first movement (where the ''Resurrection'' waits until near the end to introduce the organ, the ''Symphony of a Thousand'' introduces the organ in the first measure), the full choir bellowing "Accende, accende lumen sensibus!" and the ensuing double fugue, the Pater Ecstaticus' first solo ("Ewiger Wonnebrand") as the second movement finally emerges from the shadows into the light, the Mater Gloriosa's solo (just two lines, but among the most soul-penetratingly beautiful in the symphony)[[note]] In many professional performances, the soprano performing the role of the Mater Gloriosa sings from a balcony or the organ loft rather than on the stage.[[/note]] granting Gretchen permission to carry Faust's soul to Heaven, and the buildup to the triumphant orchestral coda in the symphony's final minutes, another monumental testament to the belief that LoveRedeems. Mahler himself knew he'd written something quite remarkable (it was the first symphony to feature choral passages throughout rather than in just a few movements), and in a letter to conductor Willem Mengelberg, he wrote, "Try to imagine the whole universe beginning to ring and resound. There are no longer human voices, but planets and suns revolving."

* Any live (professional) performance of the mammoth [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KugLAIzW3u8 Symphony No.8]] (''The Symphony of a Thousand'') is almost guaranteed to be an awesome experience for both performers and audience, with a score calling for eight vocal soloists (three soprano, two alto, one each tenor, baritone, bass), two full choirs, a children's choir, and a massively augmented orchestra.[[note]] Two piccolos, four flutes, four oboes, a cor anglais, three B-flat clarinets, (at least) two E-flat clarinets, a bass clarinet, four bassoons, a contrabassoon, eight horns, four trumpets, four trombones, a tuba, a separate brass ensemble of four (or five) trumpets and three trombones, timpani (with two players), cymbals, bass drum, tam-tam, triangle, bells tuned to A and A-flat, glockenspiel, piano, harmonium, celesta, pipe organ, (at least) two to four harps, a mandolin (preferably several), and an enlarged string section.[[/note]] The nickname "Symphony of a Thousand" was intentional hyperbole on the part of music critics, but most performances involve at least five hundred musicians. Though it is in just two movements, the second movement is nearly an hour long and is a full setting of the final scene of [[Creator/JohannWolfgangVonGoethe Goethe's]] ''Theatre/{{Faust|SecondPartOfTheTragedy}}'', as various angels discuss what to do with the now deceased title character's soul, and it combines slow movement, scherzo, and finale into a vast epic which answers the musical questions posed by the first movement, a setting of the Latin hymn "Veni, creator spiritus". Particular highlights in a live performance include the very opening bars of the first movement (where the ''Resurrection'' waits until near the end to introduce the organ, the ''Symphony of a Thousand'' introduces the organ in the first measure), the full choir bellowing "Accende, accende lumen sensibus!" and the ensuing double fugue, the Pater Ecstaticus' first solo in the second movement ("Ewiger Wonnebrand"), and the buildup to the triumphant orchestral coda in the symphony's final minutes. Mahler himself knew he'd written something quite remarkable (it was the first symphony to feature choral passages throughout rather than in just a few movements), and in a letter to conductor Willem Mengelberg, he wrote, "Try to imagine the whole universe beginning to ring and resound. There are no longer human voices, but planets and suns revolving."