Gustav Mahler (1860 - 1911)
Symphony No. 5 in C# minor
I. Trauermarsch. In gemessenem Schritt. Streng. Wie ein Kondukt
II. Stürmisch bewegt, mit größter Vehemenz
III. Scherzo. Kräftig, nicht zu schnell
IV. Adagietto. Sehr langsam
V. Rondo-Finale. Allegro

Although he died in 1911, and is often described as a "late romantic" composer, Mahler was very much of the twentieth century. His music is eclectic, incorporating disparate elements such as folk song, military marches, bird song, cow bells and other sounds from nature. He supported the young Schonberg against the conservative establishment in Vienna, and Schonberg reciprocated by a life long advocacy of Mahler's music. Through Schonberg, Mahler was thus an influence on most of 20th century music, as well as being a direct influence on composers such as Shostakovich and Britten.

Mahler was a very hard worker, and from 1898 until 1907 had two virtually full time jobs, one as a conductor and one as a composer. As conductor he was the full-time Director of the Vienna Opera. He was a perfectionist, striving for high standards, driving his singers and players hard, and sparing neither himself nor anyone else in his efforts. Consequently he made many enemies, but became hugely influential and famous. And on top of this demanding schedule, during this same period, he wrote five enormous symphonies and two large song cycles with orchestra. As Deryck Cooke puts it, "No other musician except Wagner possessed in such equal measure the introvert's capacity for self-absorption, the extrovert's capacity for self-assertion, and the iron will to weld them together and force them to do its purpose." It is hardly surprising that, never taking a proper holiday, his constitution could not stand the strain, and that his heart failed by the time he was 50.

In November 1901 he met Alma Schindler, and after a brief secret engagement, they were married in March 1902. He was 41, she was 22, and was already expecting their first child. Needless to say, Mahler's detractors at the Opera seized on this relationship as a major scandal, and made Alma's life extremely uncomfortable. They had a complex relationship - she had real musical ability herself, and gave up a promising composing career to support Mahler. But she was always a flirt and a seducer, and caused Mahler many jealousies; the marriage probably only survived because of his deep love for her.

Their first summer together was spent at Maiemigg, where Mahler completed the short score of the fifth symphony (that is, a four-stave score with all the notes, and indications of which instrument is playing). He completed the detailed orchestration in the following winter, somehow fitting this in around his work at the Opera House - often before breakfast! The symphony was first performed at Cologne on 18th October 1904, with Mahler himself conducting.

He was concerned that the symphony was taxing for both conductor and orchestra. During the rehearsals for the first performance, he commented "The scherzo is the very devil of a movement... conductors for the next 50 years will all take it too fast, and make nonsense of it." And after the first performance "The fifth is an accursed work - no-one understands it." And when the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam played it, he warned them "The fifth is very, very difficult." Indeed it has many tricky comers, and despite the music of Stravinsky and Schonberg being now behind us, and Mahler now being generally accepted as a great composer, his warnings should still be heeded!

In this symphony Mahler presents two emotional worlds to us, so wholly opposed as to threaten to tear the symphony apart. In its progression from C sharp minor to D major this schizophrenic work takes us from a bleak and tragic world, through a happy and serene one, to a finale of manic exuberance.

After the opening trumpet call the main subject of the first movement is a powerful, tragic funeral march. There are two contrasting sections: the first is a torrent of notes in B flat minor, wild and panic stricken, while the second begins swaying and gentle on the strings, in A minor (the key of the following movement). Binding it all together is the trumpet call, sometimes strident, sometimes ominous, and at the close distant and remote, echoed by the flute. The whole of this funeral march is really only an introduction, albeit an enormous one, to the second movement, which follows at once and is both savage and exhilarating. Not all is stormy, though - there are contrasting sections of a sorrowful march tune, based on the A minor section from the first movement. One notable interlude is a sad, thoughtful tune on the cellos, accompanied only by a quiet roll on the timpani. After several iterations of these two, a jaunty march tune appears for a few bars and a shout of triumph in D major - but this is premature, and is quickly suppressed. The opening storm recurs together with its contrasting sections, before the triumph bursts out again, more substantially, in a noble brass chorale. But the happiness cannot last, and the movement ends in a deathly whisper.

The second part of the symphony comprises just the third movement, a vital, energetic, and large scale scherzo in D major, with an ebullient solo part for the principal horn player. It completely contradicts all that has gone before in its positive view of life. True, there are nostalgic waltz-like sections, and a marvellous episode in which horn calls echo as if across a mountain wilderness. But the overall feeling is of joy in life, albeit with an awareness of its underlying spiritual aspect.

The third part starts with the adagietto for harp and strings, made famous by its use in Visconti's film of Death In Venice. But here no-one dies; this is a love song for Alma, who was transcribing Mahler's sketches page by page as he completed them. From this the finale magically emerges, and quickly becomes a joyful and exuberant dance. Thematically this is based on material from the adagietto - so we are left in little doubt that Mahler's ecstatic joy in this movement is based on his love for Alma. There are gentle interludes, but the overall feeling is one of suppressed excitement, of a volcano about to erupt .... Eventually the dam bursts (to mix my metaphors) and we reach a splendid and satisfying climax based on the noble brass chorale from the end of the second movement. This explicit reference is the only obvious cross-beam tying together the disparate elements of this amazing symphony. After this climax, the music hurtles ecstatically to its cock-a-hoop conclusion.