gregg@azure.UUCP (Greg Gadeholt) (12/15/83)
I appreciated Oscar Nierstrasz's article about Mahler. It's good to see classical music articles in this newsgroup. I must offer a second opinion on the Mahler 7th Symphony, though. I think that it's a great work, and that it's reasonably approachable. (It may take a couple of hearings, though.) First of all, I must admit that one reason I like the symphony is that I'm a french horn player; that does affect a person's musical outlook quite a bit. (For example, the four opera recordings I ever bought were Wagner's Ring.) The horn parts are great to listen to and to play. It's too bad Mahler used a "moderate" size orchestra with only four horn parts. Another interesting aspect of this symphony (as well as several other's of Mahler's) is how it musically straddles the 19th and 20th centuries. While the symphony is essentially a typical post-romantic tertian work, the first movement has very strong quartal tendencies. These tendencies are the natural development of key parts of the main theme. The second movement is a kind of "night music" and sort of forshadows some similar types of movements in Bartok string quartets. The themes are more "conventional" than in the first movement, but show a fascination with major/minor alterations that sometimes occur simultaneously. The general idea of this kind of alternation is certainly older than Mahler, but this movement represents a major development of the idea. (Notice how this kind of alteration is an architectural element of the Sixth Symphony, too.). The final three movements are less "radical" but no less musically worthy. The scherzo reminds a bit of Ravel in spots. The fourth movement is structurally analogous to the second (the symphony is in a loose arch form) but far more reposed. The movement also features a mandolin. The last movement is a nice, relatively conservative finale; the conservatism perhaps is a deliberate bit of archaism, since Mahler marked the tempo "Allegro Ordinaro". Over all, the symphony gets more "approachable" for those with conservative ears as the work progresses. I feel that this may be a fault, though I'm not convinced of it. It doesn't really matter, because the music is all interesting and enjoyable. One other thing that is interesting about this symphony is that, in spite of it's progressive moments, it is over all a more conservative work than the Sixth Symphony. Now for the standard net.music disclaimer: It's been a while since I last listened to this work, and I haven't got a score (or even an album cover) with me, so there may be some glaring inaccuracies in what I wrote. If so, or if you just disagree with my opinions, let's hear about it. In particular, I'd like to hear more from Oscar about his opinions on the 7th - or other symphonies, for that matter. Let's really discuss some music! Greg Gadeholt Tektronix MDP ...!tektronix!tekmdp!gregg