Mahler: Symphony No. 7 Berliner Philharmoniker & Simon Rattle

• Gustav Mahler (1860 - 1911): Symphony No. 7 in E Minor:
• 1 Symphony No. 7 in E Minor: I. Langsam (Adagio) – Allegro risoluto, ma non troppo 21:32
• 2 Symphony No. 7 in E Minor: II. Nachtmusik I. Allegro moderato 14:48
• 3 Symphony No. 7 in E Minor: III. Scherzo. Schattenhaft – Trio 10:21
• 4 Symphony No. 7 in E Minor: IV. Nachtmusik II. Andante amoroso 12:04
• 5 Symphony No. 7 in E Minor: V. Rondo-Finale. Tempo I (Allegro ordinario) – Tempo II (Allegro moderato ma energico) 17:21
• Total Runtime 01:16:06

Info for Mahler: Symphony No. 7

Originality from the first moment: Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony

What Richard Strauss later observed about himself was already true of Beethoven: that he had reinvented the genre with every work. The originality is apparent from the first moment of the slow introduction in Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony. An oboe melody grows out of the opening orchestral chord and in the fourth bar already suggests a rhythmic motif that runs through the entire work in several variants. During the subtle transition to the fast section, a compelling force develops which is so far-reaching that no real contrasting second theme emerges. The second movement – with a theme that builds up layer by layer in a kind of variation form, interrupted twice by a gentle, comforting second theme – pleased the audience so much at the premiere in 1813 that it had to be repeated immediately.

The scherzo is in the remote key of F major: the first joke that Beethoven indulges in during this movement. The second trick is the fact that the trio switches to the home key of A major without advance warning. The final prank comes at the close: here the composer feints another repetition of the trio, then slams the lid down with five orchestral blows. The finale takes up these blows and throws itself into an allegro frenzy whose “con brio” marking is to be understood literally. The theme hurls the notes around the listeners’ ears, the rhythm dominates everything, and the melodies, almost like fragments in their breathlessness, are swept away by the propulsive energy.

During the fifth (and last) year of his tenure in Meiningen, 1885/1886, Bülow lost his assistant: Franz Mannstädt was appointed conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in spring of 1885. As his successor Bülow chose a musician who was barely 20 years old: Richard Strauss. This appointment was a turning point in the career of the young Munich native. Although he had no previous practical conducting experience, within a short time he became one of the most important conductors of his generation. Years later he said that “Bülow trained me as a conductor in his and Wagner’s spirit”. Bülow’s influence extended far beyond conducting techniques, however. As a composer who had not yet found his own voice, Strauss underwent what was probably the most fundamental change in his musical-aesthetic thinking in Meiningen – with Beethoven, above all, as his example. In Bülow’s interpretations, Strauss wrote, “the full light of Beethoven’s sun shone on me for the first time in my life”. This realization had a great deal to do with Bülow’s conviction that “with Beethoven, sonata means instrumental poetry”. Both ideas became essential aspects of Strauss’s music. Each of his works is a confrontation with the question of how sonata form can be reconciled with musical narrative.

Berliner Philharmoniker
Sir Simon Rattle, conductor

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Booklet for Mahler: Symphony No. 7