Mahler Symphony No. 9 - Intro - Listening Guide
Symphony No. 9 by Gustav Mahler was written between 1908 and 1909, and was the last symphony he completed. Though the work is often described as being in the key of D major, the tonal scheme of the sy...
18 Mar 202115min
Mahler Symphony No. 9 - 1st Movement - Listening Guide
The first movement embraces a loose sonata form. The key areas provide a continuation of the tonal juxtaposition displayed in earlier works (notably the Symphonies No. 6 and No. 7). The work opens wit...
18 Mar 20211h 14min
Mahler Symphony No. 9 - 2nd Movement - Listening Guide
The second movement is a series of dances, and opens with a rustic Ländler, which becomes distorted to the point that it no longer resembles a dance. It contains shades Mahler’s Symphony no.4, Movemen...
18 Mar 202135min
Mahler Symphony No. 9 - 3rd Movement - Listening Guide
The third movement, in the form of a rondo, displays the final maturation of Mahler’s contrapuntal skills. It opens with a dissonant theme in the trumpet which is treated in the form of a double fugue...
18 Mar 202144min
Mahler Symphony No. 9 - 4th Movement - Listening Guide
The final movement, marked zurückhaltend (“very slowly and held back”; literally, “reservedly”), opens with only strings. Commentators have noted the similarity of the opening theme in particular to t...
18 Mar 202157min
Mahler Symphony No. 10 - Intro - Listening Guide
Symphony No. 10 was written in the summer of 1910, and was his final composition. At the time of Mahler’s death the composition was substantially complete in the form of a continuous draft; but not be...
18 Mar 202113min
Mahler Symphony No. 10 - 1st Movement - Listening Guide
The very opening of the symphony (which is in the key of F-sharp major) maintains a connection with the final movement of the Ninth. A long, bleak Andante melody for violas alone leads to the expositi...
18 Mar 202148min
Mahler Symphony No. 10 - 2nd Movement - Listening Guide
The second movement, the first of two brilliant Scherzo movements, consists of two main ideas, the first of which is notated in consistently changing metres, which would have proved a challenge to Mah...
18 Mar 202132min
