That’s how I feel this morning.  If you’ve played Mahler’s Ninth twice the previous day, plus ridden the 9 miles to work and 9 miles back home before and after the rehearsal - it leads to a healthy sense of fatigue!

The performance last night was memorable - this orchestra has truly come of age.  We’re finally realizing our untapped potential, and playing concerts of some of the most demanding music at a seriously high level.  It feels good.

Now, let’s do it two more times, o.k.?

If you haven’t yet had a chance to read my thumbnail sketches of the four movements that comprise the Ninth Symphony of Gustav Mahler, here’s a helpful set of links so you can do so.  I also hope that you make the trip down to Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall tonight or tomorrow night - it’s a concert that you’ll be glad you attended.

• I. Andante comodo.
• II. Im Tempo eines gemächlichen Ländlers.
• III. Rondo. Burleske.
• IV. Adagio.

We’re at the final movement of this great symphony, and what a movement it is! If you mention Mahler 9 to almost anyone, they’ll invariably start to talk about the first time they ever heard the slow movement, and how it affected them at a critical time in their life.

In the orchestral parts, the string parts span only two pages, yet the movement can last upward of 25 minutes. It’s a very slow piece of music, but not an uneventful one. [Read more →]

With the opening of the second movement of Mahler’s Ninth Symphony, we’re immediately in the realm of what Carlos Kalmar calls “the leather pants!” or lederhosen. Why? Because as the tempo indication at the beginning of the movement says, “in a comfortable ländler tempo” – a ländler being a rustic country dance common to Austria and Germany, whose male protagonists might often be seen in the folk garb of leather shorts, or lederhosen.

[Read more →]

Stuttering, arrhythmic, heartbeat rhythms in the horn and cellos, hesitant fragments of a melody in the distant french horn, then the rocking of the harp, and the first ineffably sad song of melancholic longing in the strings accompanied by restlessly rustling sextuplets in the violas. It’s the opening of Mahler’s massive, elegiac Ninth Symphony, and I cannot think of another piece which begins in such a place of desolation as this one. [Read more →]

What would a Mahler symphony be without a sprawling, hectic, and by turns achingly beautiful scherzo? Well, quite a bit shorter, for one. Mahler is often in the habit of taking a huge movement in cut time and making a huge journey out of it, and the Ninth Symphony is no exception. [Read more →]

I’m pleased to welcome as my first guest blogger Jeffrey Work, principal trumpet of the Oregon Symphony. He, among other things, is an enthusiastic collector of old recordings, and as such, I thought that he might like to delve into his massive collection and give us some nuggets that relate to the upcoming work on the next classical series: Mahler’s Ninth Symphony. Enjoy! — CN

As the Oregon Symphony’s musicians prepare for our upcoming performances of the Mahler 9th, most of us will head to our record and CD libraries. It’s a common first step before we go to the more important second step: heading to the practice room. My routine is no different. [Read more →]