The Maestro's Choice by Lucie Renaud Tuesday, October 22, 2002
27-year old Yannick N?zet-S?guin is the Artistic Director of
l''Orchestre M?tropolitain du Grand Montr?al
Mahler''s Third Symphony continues to be one of his most
interesting works because it is the only one for which the composer created a
real program, a scaffolding, if you will, before beginning to work. Even so, I
find that it isn''t necessarily the easiest of his symphonies to understand. It
is a fairly intimate work in terms of expression, despite its powerful
orchestration, and carries us into a kind of dream world in which Mahler seems
bent on mixing all sorts of things--mythology, the biblical Creation, and
philosophy. To my mind, it typifies the end of the nineteenth
century.
A symphony of Nature
Mahler always wanted his symphonies to embrace the world,
and the Third, composed in 1895, does this quite explicitly, pushing the
orchestra to unbelievable limits. Structurally, Mahler proceeded according to an
established hierarchy of kingdoms: mineral, vegetable, and animal, moving a step
up each time in terms of evolution. Then he went on to "What man tells me,"
"What the angels tell me," and "What love tells me." In the end, however, Mahler
decided to do away with the program. Bruno Walter described it as a canvas, or a
scaffolding around a building that is removed once the work is done. Mahler
referred to the symphony as "my personal monster," which implies that he had
difficulty adhering to his outline.
The composer retired to the country to write the symphony in
order to find inspiration in Nature. Walter, who was nineteen at the time,
remembered how one day, on an outing with Mahler, he was gazing at a majestic
mountain only to hear his companion say, "No use looking up there. The mountain
is in my music!"
First movement
The first movement represents "summer marching in" (in a
general sense--sun, water, and sky). The key chosen is the rather sombre D
minor. It may seem contradictory, but I really believe it represents Nature in
all that is grand and rather fearsome. The majesty of summer can be frightening,
even dizzying, because in fact it dominates us.
The program for the first movement surprised me when I read
"Pan awakes." For me, the music sounded more like a funeral march. To speak of
summer when scoring music for eight horns in D minor with lots of percussion may
seem odd. There is something implacable about this passage. I think we have to
see it as representing Nature emerging from original chaos. This movement is the
most revolutionary of all Mahler''s work because percussion instruments are given
pride of place (fanfares, long percussion passages, right from the start). The
orchestration is the opposite of what is customary. Symphonic music is
traditionally based on the strings, but here Mahler opens with the trombone,
moving to the trumpet, then the horns, woodwinds, and finally strings. You might
say that Mahler is comparing evolution in Nature with symphonic evolution,
thereby giving this movement a special colour, musically
speaking.
Second movement
It came as no surprise to learn that the second movement
dealt with "the flowers of the meadow." There was an elegance, a delicacy there.
Mahler was a poet who was profoundly touched by the world in which he lived. He
said that meadow flowers were the most incredible manifestation of the vegetable
kingdom. For him they represented what was carefree and lighthearted, but which,
when Nature''s elements were let loose, turned to panic. The flowers writhed as
though they were calling for help.
Third movement
When I learned that the third moment described animals
("beasts of the forest"), I suddenly thought it seemed less like a jest
(suggested by the whimsical, almost ridiculous timbre of the E-flat clarinet)
than a sort of heedlessness, a clumsiness in behaviour that we humans don''t
consider "classy." However, the music is very beautiful and this movement
contains one of the most famous solos--the hunting horn passage written for
trumpet. (I''m planning to put the trumpeter in the hall rather than on stage,
but I won''t say where. Come and see for yourselves!)
Fourth movement
The sung text of the fourth movement, "Oh Mensch," ("O Man")
is taken from Nietsche''s Zarathustra. The orchestration of this night
song is pure music, almost minimalist, and sweeps the listener into a kind of
trance. It moves from one chord to another, the timbre dark, with an oboe
glissando here and there (a night bird). Mahler sought inspiration in German
philosophy, according to which the human rite of passage occurs at night. The
strings are muted throughout the movement, and much of the score is given to
violas, cellos, and double basses, playing sombre chords in striking contrast to
the oboe.
Fifth movement
This great adagio is for me the finest movement of
the Third, using orchestral colour for purely expressive effect. "Love," for
Mahler, was the most highly evolved form of creation--what held everything
together. When I began to study the symphony, I was amazed by the last
movement''s use of D major, by nature a brilliant, triumphal key, in such a
moving adagio. Until very recently I couldn''t listen to this movement without
crying. Initially I didn''t know about the work''s full literary context, but I
intuitively felt the presence of God or the creative force. It is as though you
saw "The End" appear on a screen--a kind of sadness fills you because it is
ended, but at the same time the beauty of it draws you on toward a new
beginning. * [Translated by Jane Brierley]
UPCOMING EVENTS
L''Orchestre M?tropolitain du Grand Montr?al will perform
Mahler''s Third Symphony on Sept. 26 at Montr?al (514) 899-0644.
Yannick N?zet-S?guin conducts the CBC Radio Orchestre in Vancouver Sept. 15,
Vancouver Symphony Oct. 18, 19, 21, Winnipeg Symphony Nov. 14,
Victoria Sym. Nov. 31, Dec. 1, 2, Opera Ontario (Lakm?)
Jan. 25, 30, Feb. 1, 7, and Manitoba Chamber Orch. Mar.
18.
Yannick N?zet-S?guin''s recommended
recordings
- I would first choose the recordings of Mahler''s
Third by Otto Klemperer and Bruno Walter, both of whom knew the composer
personally and whose visions of the work are diametrically opposed.
- The most recent recording (1999) by Claudio Abbado with
the Berlin Philharmonic, live in London, bowled me over.
- Of course I have to include Leonard Bernstein''s two
recordings. He makes great play of volume and sentimentality, but it''s better to
go somewhat overboard than not to rise to the
occasion.
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