Mahler Symphony 4With this symphony, as with many of his works, Mahler continued to
make alterations right up to the end of his life. The edition most easily available is Kalmus
which is the 1910 edition (although it wrongly says it is 1906). Unfortunately the edition which gives
Mahler's final thoughts on the work (which were not published during his lifetime) is Universal
and these parts are very expensive to hire. Hence we will be playing from Kalmus parts altered
to be in line with the Universal edition. In the main the changes are quite small - subtle changes
in dynamics, the removal or addition of a few notes here and there. There are one
or two more significant changes, such as an additional tempo instruction, or some actual note changes.
I'll now look at some particular parts of the symphony. There are a surprising number of things to say about these few notes! Firstly, notice
that Mahler uses both Italian and German instructions. The latter predominate throughout
the symphony. In fact it's almost necessary to have a glossary of German terms for this
piece ... I might create one. Secondly, notice Mahler's fingering (wind players please don't
switch off!). The F# has a 4th finger and the following G a 2nd. That means that you slide
the 2nd finger up from the D it is on (the first note) to the G a fourth above. This in
indicated by the line between the F# and the G. The slide will be played just before
the second note. Mahler writes a good number of these markings into the string parts. Is his
intention to limit glissandi to those moments, or perhaps there are other places where he would
have expected it without the need to mark it. Either way, glissando (or portamento) is
something that all string players need to practice to play Mahler well.  2. 1st Movement: Bar 3-7
This tune is in particular responsible for leading some to speak of this symphony
as Mahler's Classical Symphony. It certainly has a classical feel. Very clearly in G major with
no modulation. It even has a classical style appogiatura in the 3rd bar. But this is certainly
not Mahler trying to write classical music. He described this theme as being 'childlike, simple, and entirely
non-self conscious', and that is very similar to the way he asks the soprano to sing in the last
movement. The words there are of a child explaining what heavenly life is like.
The classical simplicity (for the moment at any rate) is derived from the subject Mahler has
set himself - life after death.
 3. 1st Movement: Bar 27
The way in which Mahler treats dynamics is very far from Classicism. Here is a simple
example. The top two staves are the woodwind, the lower two the strings. They play exactly the
same chords, but the fp is in a different place. Mahler is playing with the colours he can get
from an orchestra. This is difficult to achieve, given the large string sections employed
by symphony orchestras - perhaps smaller sections would aid this type of balancing problem.
 4. 1st Movement: Bars 115-9
The feeling of jolliness in this movement is only superficial. Here the first
violins play an extraordinarily neurotic line.
All is not well in Paradise!  5. 1st Movement: Bars 224-8
Here, in the 3rd trumpet part, Mahler makes a reference forward to the beginning of his 5th Symphony -
a technique he used a good number of times in his works.
 6. 1st Movement: Bars 292f
Mahler used commas in two ways. Sometimes they show phrasing (i.e. the note
before is shortened), and sometimes, as here, they indicate a small break in the
flow of the music (he sometimes uses the German word luftpause).
 This movement is something of a Todtentanz (dance of death) in which a solo
violin, tuned a tone higher than normal, weaves a devilish tune. For all
Mahler's innovations it is perhaps surprising to note that it is
structured in a remarkably regular manner.
Here is the opening gambit of the solo violin. Note that it will sound in
the key of Eb, not Db as it is written. Notice the dynamic surges which give it a wild
feel. The instructions mean 'Driven (like a fiddle)'. Undoubtedly Mahler is not
after refinement here but an affect. For that reason I would suggest the player use an
open E string (a very rare thing to do) giving a brasher, and more rustic feel (surely
implied by the word Fidel).
 The second section of this movement is a ländler. That is a triple-time dance of
Austrian origin, thought to be the forerunner of the waltz. It is however of a
more rustic nature, and without the anticipated second beat so characteristic of the
Viennese waltz. Here Mahler does the ländler in his own style by giving it 3 bar phrases.
The opening bar (for the 1st clarinet) is a kind of 'Get Ready!' signal to the 'dancers'.
This needs playing with real precision, and just a touch of swagger!
 9. 2nd Movement: Bar 34-6
In the same Ländler section Mahler marks the 2nd and 3rd clarinets to
hold the ends of their instruments up high - 'bells up'.
It's both to give extra volume and also to add a small 'choreographic' element to the
proceedings. Mahler also uses this marking at times for oboes, horns, and trumpets.
 10. 2nd Movement: Bar 332-5
Towards the end of the movement Mahler wonderfully underlines its 'devilish' tone. Over a
pedal C he gives the horns a fanfare in Gb. He thus emphasises a tritone -
the diabolus in music (devil in music)!
 This movement is marked 'Ruhevoll (Poco Adagio)'. Mahler was also known to speak
of is as an Andante. What is crucial is that this is not self-indulgent music, but music
which flows and sings.
11. 3rd Movement: 1-6
The cellos have the tune at the opening (see the word espress). However the
dynamic is p or pp and the mood is peaceful, so I would suggest that only a small amount of
vibrato is required.
 12. 3rd Movement: 89ff/97ff
Again the heavenly peacefulness is broken - this time by painful reminiscences
of earthly life. Did I mention that this is all about life after death? Here the
trumpet and then the horn play painful descending chromatic scales.
  13. 3rd Movement: 278-83
Quite how Mahler takes us to the circus I'll leave you to discover ... but as
abruptly as we arrive we are taken away again! The instruction is to change the
tempo suddenly, with no prior slowing (something that happens several times in the
movement).
 The final movement is something of a surprise. It is small scale, and much of it
is quiet, reflective, cheerful. Here is the opening line for the soprano, where she is
instructed to sing "with childlike, cheerful expression - quite without parody!". This is
the voice of a child in heaven explaining what it's like.
The only recordings we have of Mahler exist on a few piano rolls, the accompaniment to this movement being one of them. Not that Mahler would have necessarily conducted the piece in the same manner he played it, but there must be a certain amount of corelation. One interesting thing is that he plays dotted quaver - semiquaver patterns almost as if they were double dotted.  15. 4th Movement: Bars 36-9
In keeping with the heavenly references (here to St Peter) Mahler interjects a chorale-like
phrase at several points.
 16. 4th Movement: Bars 60ff
Mahler said of this movement "What I had in mind here was unbelievably difficult to do. Imagine
the uniform blue of the skies, which is more difficult to paint than all the changing and
contrasting shades. This is the fundamental mood of the whole. Only sometimes it darkens and
becomes ghostly, gruesome. But heaven itself is not darkened, it shines on in an eternal blue.
Only to us it suddenly seems gruesome, just as on the most beautiful day in the woods, flooded with
light, we are often gripped by a panic and fear." Mahler interjects the sleighbell motif between
sections of this movement. He used this in the first movement - there it was something of a care-free
and light-hearted call to play, but here it has become much more sinister, with stopped horns, muted
trumpets and col-legno strings (hitting the strings with the wood of the bow rather than the hair).
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