Give Mahler a cheery nursery-rhyme ditty and he’ll turn it into the bleakest of gallows marches. Don’t believe us? Have a listen to the opening of the third movement of the First Symphony.
Again Mahler uses vocal colors and textures in the unconventionally slow finale of this symphony. But with six glorious movements, demanding intricate, virtuosic playing, lasting for just over a ...
In 1897, after months of intrigue and negotiation, during which Mahler ... Symphony (as in almost all his works), there were memories of past grief, irony and self-doubt. In the scherzo movements ...