Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)
| Commentary of David Afkham on the version for reduced orchestra |
El camino hacia la eterna gloria / The path to eternal glory
Notes to the program of the premiere by the National Orchestra and Choir of Spain of the version for reduced orchestra of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 2 ("Resurrection") (Madrid, National Auditorium, October 7-10, 2021)Gustav Mahler. Symphony No.2 ("Resurrection")
Text of the booklet of the CD of the label INAEM Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España (2022)Texts
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The path to eternal glory
As is often the case in any art class, despite its overwhelming forcefulness and uncanny sense of unity, the composition of Symphony No. 2 did not arise from a single creative stroke, but rather from various impulses scattered and quite separated in time. Mahler began the first movement in January 1888, thus overlapping the completion of the "Titan" Symphony, finished in March of the same year, and was initially conceived as a tone poem entitled Todtenfeier ("Funeral Rite"). It was not until the summer of 1893 that it became part of the project for a new symphony, finishing the three central movements in a few months, and completing the work in 1894 with a symphonic-choral movement, conceived under the influence of listening, during the funeral of Hans von Bülow, a choral that had as its text the poem Auferstehn (“Resurrection”) by Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock (1724-1803), from which Mahler took the first two of its five stanzas for his symphony, expanding it with a emotional own text in a curious literary collaboration.
Similarly, the arc from the funeral music of the first movement to the apotheosis of the final resurrection does not follow as logical a creative development as might be expected, given the disparity of the three central movements, which could symbolize the positive and negative aspects of the life: the ländler of the second is followed by a scherzo in which Mahler uses the piano part of the lied Des Antonius von Padua Fischpredigt (“The sermon of Saint Anthony of Padua to the fishes”), which like the fourth, Urlicht (“Primordial Light”) come from the lieder cycle based on texts from the collection of old German songs and poems Des Knaben Wunderhorn (“The Magic Horn of Youth”), to which Mahler paid special attention between 1888 and 1901, dates of composition of the first and last of the twenty-four lieder that make up his cycles of the same title for voice and piano and for voice and orchestra. The coincidence of the dates of the composition of these cycles with those of the symphonies composed in those years leads to a close interrelation: in the case of the second, Urlicht was left out of them to settle definitively as the fourth movement of the symphonic work, and the lied about San Antonio lost its vocal part. If to this is added the almost literal quotation, at the end of the scherzo, of the last four bars of Das ist ein Flöten und Geigen ("To the sound of flutes and violins"), from the cycle Dichterliebe ("Poet's Love") by Robert Schumann, it is clear that Mahler represents a clear example of the absence of “purist” prejudices in the face of the myth of the sacred and inviolable nature of the work of art.
The choice of texts makes clear, on the other hand, Mahler's profound religiosity, which in the case of Symphony No. 2 must be understood from the purest Judaism, given that his conversion to Catholicism did not take place until 1897 -three years later finished the work -, as an essential requirement for him to be hired for the position of director of the Vienna State Opera. The resurrection, in any case, is shared by both beliefs, and all this does not interfere with the need for melodic, harmonic, formal and instrumental expansion of the symphonism of the late nineteenth century, so full of expressive meaning that it is crying out for the introduction of the text to also endow it with meaning, thus following the path opened by Beethoven at the end of his Ninth Symphony.
The commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the presentation of the National Choir of Spain at the Teatro Real in Madrid on October 22, 1971, together with the National Orchestra and under the direction of Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, is the basis of this programme, to which the circumstances of the pandemic force us to offer a version for a reduced orchestra, the elaboration of which I have had the honor -and the enjoyment- of being entrusted to me. Needless to say what has been the difficulty of redoing the score for an orchestral group with practically half the number of musicians of the original; In any case, my goal has been that, although the final result loses its grandeur, the musical content of the work has been fully preserved, which has forced the logic and continuous modifications of the instrumentation to adapt it to the initially established orchestral template.
Gustav Mahler. Symphony No.2 ("Resurrection")
On 22nd October 1971 the Coro Nacional de España gave its first concert at the Teatro Real in Madrid accompanied by the Orquesta Nacional de España conducted by Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, the resident conductor at the time. playing Gustav Mahler's Symphony No.2, "Resurrection".
In October 2020, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of that event with a concert containing the same programme, I received a commission from the Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España to adapt a version for small orchestra of Mahler's Symphony. The work would be performed in October 2021 in the Symphony Hall of the Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid, keeping to the health and distancing measures between musicians that had been laid down then as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic. The idea was that it could be taken up in the future by other smaller orchestras, as is the case with the majority of orchestral ensembles both in Spain and abroad, where it might be difficult to perform without increasing the number of musicians in all the sections and, as a consequence, increasing the necessary expenses for its production.
Unlike what occurs with other symphonies by Mahler (such as the Fourth, arranged by Klaus Simon for 14 musicians, or the Fifth, adapted by the Natalia Ensemble for 17), no other version has ever been arranged for Mahler's Second Symphony, composed between 1888 and 1893, and so any orchestra that wishes to programme it must be able to count on around 110 musicians to perform it.
It is an honor -and pleasure- to have personally received the commission of arranging a reduced version of one of the most important symphonic compositions of all time, and this has gone hand in hand with the enormous complexity of the tack invived in doing so. It consisted in re-constructing the score for an orchestral ensemble of practically half of those in the original (that is, around 55 instrumentalist). And the responsibility I took on has not been less on accepting such a commission: a composer can indulge in doing something that others may not like or appreciate, even though he has every confidence in it; but that is not acceptable when dealing with the re-arrangement of another's work especially when it is a composer and symphony of such great standing. In any case, even if the final result might fail in grandiosity, my purpose was to preserve the musical substance of the work in its entirety, leading to the logical and continuous modifications of the instrumentation in order to adapt it to the size of orchestra initially set out, trying to respect as far as possible the timbrical richness of the original score.
For some 85 minutes of interpretation, the "Resurrection" Symphony requires an orchestra made up of 4 flutes (all doubling piccolo), 4 oboes (two doubling cor anglais), clarinets (one doubling bass clarinet), 2 E-flat clarinets (one doubling clarinet), bassoons (one doubling contrabassoon), 10 French horns (with 4 playing off-stage), 10 trumpets (with-4 playing off-stage), 4 trombones, a tuba, 3 timpani (with one off-stage), 6 percussion (with 2 off-stage), 2 harps, an organ and strings made up of a minimum of 16 violins, 14 second violins, 12 violas, 107 cellos and 8 double basses. For voice, there needs to be a soprano and contralto soloist as well as a mixed choir in proportion to the size of the orchestra established by Mahler.
In my reduced version, the vocal parts scrupulously respect Mahler's original, even though at the premiere the size of the Core Nacional de España was cut to 80 singers, adequately spaced between each, the same as the orchestra, so as to comply with the established health and safety protocols. At the same time, the orchestra size is also reduced to: 2 flutes (both doubling piccolo), 2 oboes (the second doubling cor anglais), 2 clarinets (the first doubling E-flat, the second doubling bass), 2 bassoons (the second doubling contrabassoon), 5 French horns (two of them off-stage), 4 trumpets (two of them off-stage), 2 trombones, a tuba, one timpani, 3 percussion, harp, organ (optional) and the string section made up of 8 first violins, 7 second violins, 6 violas, 5 cellos and 3 double basses.
At those moments when a limited presence of bass instruments (especially double basses) could endanger the sound balance of the whole I decided to increase support by using a piano, in that way replacing a glockenspiel, also missing in my version but very important at certain instances in the work.
Using this framework and wishing to be faithful as much as possible to the original, I set out in November 2019 and April 2020 on a project that consisted essentially in maintaining a hundred per cent -I should say as much as possible- the surface of the instrumentation, modifying when necessary its internal aspects so that the setting (harmony, textures, dynamics...) may adapt itself to the particularities of a radical reduction of orchestral size.
Of course, whenever possible (like where a wind instrument is accompanied by strings or in passages of chamber-like style and other similar sections) the original instrumentation was rigorously respected. However, that was not in any sense the norm as not one single page in the score appears without numerous changes, especially in the woodwind and brass sections, which was precisely where the reduction was most notable as each instrument carries its own individual voice, unlike what happens with the strings.
Metaphorically speaking -differences aside- my work was to a certain extent similar to a taxidermist's: in the end what we see is the outer shell of a stuffed animal with all its details, but the inside has nothing to do with the original. From the skin inwards everything has been modified: heart, guts, respiratory and digestive systems…, they have all disappeared to be replaced by material and substances that allow the outside structure of the animal to stay entire and unchangeable forever. In the case of this reduced version, the internal changes are manifold: what was ascribed originally to a certain instrument or to a particular section has been in many cases assigned to another instrument or section, without that influencing or modifying greatly the final result, so that on listening to it, it sounds, if not identical, as indiscernible as posible.
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With Mahler's Second Symphony ("Resurrection") there occurs what often happens with any artistic expresión: when we listen to it we have a sensation of overwhelming forcefulness and we perceive it as one with an amazing sense of unity; however, the process of its composition did not adapt itself to these criteria for, far from developing as one and only creative stroke of a pen, he composed it in various separate impulses set apart in time.
Malder began the first movement in January 1888 -overlapping with the end of the composition of his "Titan" Symphony, completed in March that same year-and finished the movement seven months later. Initially conceived as a symphonic poem under the name of Todtenfeler ("Funeral Ceremony"), it was not until the summer of 1993 that it took form as part of the project for a new symphony whose three central movements would be finished a few months later. He completed the whole work in 1804 with a symphonic-choral movement that was conceived on hearing at his friend's funeral -the conductor Hans von Bülow- a chorale from the text of the poem Die Auferstehung ("The Resurrection") by Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock (1724-1803). Mahler took the first two of its five stanzas for the ending of his new symphony, adding a moving twenty-three line text of his own in a more than strange literary collaboration.
Similarly, the stretch going from the funeral music of the first movement to the apotheosis of the final resurrection does not follow a creative development as logic would expect given the disparity of the three central movements which, in the context of death and resurrection, can only be understood to symbolize a review of life and its positive and negative aspects. The ländler of the second movement is followed by a scherzo where Mahler used the piano part of the lied called St. Anthony of Padua's Sermon to the Fish which, like the fourth, Urlicht (Primeval Light) come from the lied cycle based on texts from the collection of ancient German songs and poems Des Knaben Wunderhorn ("The Youth's Magic Horn" or "The Boy's Wonderful Horn", if you wish), brought together in 1805 by Archim von Arnim and Clemens Brentano. Mahler focused on the collection between 1888 and 1901, dates of composition of the first and last of the 24 lieder which make up his lied cycles for voice and piano and for voice and orchestra under the same title. The dates of composition of these cycles coincide with those of symphonies composed in the same period and bear a close relationship with them. Urlicht, which here concerns us, was left aside to be placed definitively as the fourth movement of the Second Symphony, but the St. Anthony lied lost its vocal part (it is not surprising that after hearing an unforgettable interpretation of this work by Leonard Bernstein conducting the New York Philharmonic in one of the 1967-68 season concerts, Luciano Berio felt attracted by this scherzo to the point of using it as a "container" of the fantastic collage that makes up the third movement of his 1968 Symphony). The two lieder, Three Angels were singing and Heavenly Life, became the basis for the fifth and fourth movements of his Third and Fourth Symphonies (1896 and 1900 respectively). If we add to these the almost literal quotation at the end of the scherzo of the four last bars of There is a fluting and fiddling, a lied from the cycle Dichterliebe ("A Poet's Love") by Robert Schumann, it is obvious that Mahler is far from that "purist" prejudice towards the sacred and sacromet myth of the work of art.
On the other hand, the choice of texts shows clearly Mahler's profound religiosity, which in his Symphony No.2 should be seen as strict Judaism, since his conversion to Catholicism did not take place until 1807 -three years after completing the work-, a necessary condition for his contract as conductor of the Vienna Opera. The Resurrection is, in any case, shared by both beliefs, but all that does not interfere with the need for melodic, harmonic, formal and instrumental expression in end-of-century symphonism in the 19th century. It is so full of expressivity that it is crying out for a text to be introduced so as to lend meaning to it, following on what Beethoven had initiated with the finale of his Ninth Symphony.
As far as the thematics of the work are concerned, in the enlarged sonata form of the first movement the funeral march stands out clearly, emerging from the disquieting atmosphere of the introduction, to dominate rhythmically the whole section as if attempting to embed itself into the main ideas and their development. There are also other contrasting themes in which it is even possible to see the hint of the first few notes of the Gregorian "Dies Irae" at the beginning of the development.
A long pause (Mahler specifies "five minutes") separates the end of the first movement from the beginning of the second. Here with an Andante moderato, Mahler offers us the great contrast that the lightness of a Ländler provides in A- flat Major, acting as a refrain in lied form in five sections, where the second and fourth are first the exposition and later a development of an extended melody in G-sharp minor, persistently accompanied by semiquaver triplets undertaken by the strings.
The third movement is a scherzo and, although its tempo is not very fast (Mahler indicates "with quietly flowing movement"), its mainly jocose character rightly makes it fulfil precisely that purpose (he even specifies that the E-flat clarinet must play "with humour" in a couple of occasions). The principal characteristic of this section is the almost continuous flow of semiquavers running through the whole orchestra, alluding clearly to the fish that supposedly listened to St. Anthony of Padua's sermon in the original lied. As a contrast in the central section, despite the continuing presence of the semiquaver flow, appear a series of fanfares from which there arises unexpectedly, shining out independently, a serene and lyrical phrase from the trumpets.
The fourth movement follows on from the third without interruption, as will happen later with the fifth, thus creating between the three a great final section. The contralto opens leading the whole section and giving way to the vocal part in the symphony, which will end up being the unconditional protagonist of the finale of the work. The movement begins in a chorale-type style, playing in the middle section with timbrical and expressive subtleties (such as the dialogue between the two piccolos and the two violins), which bring out the dreamlike image of the appearance of the angel mentioned at that moment in the text.
After a serene ending alluding to eternal life, the fifth movement opens with a harsh dissonance (obviously leading us to recall that moment in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony before the choir comes in), and throughout it there appear a series of unequal sections which are frankly difficult to ascribe to any conventional form. The call of the trumpets from off-stage, as well as the grouping of trumpets and percussion from within the orchestra itself, herald the piece that comes before the entrance of the choir and where a band-like grouping of horns, trumpets and timpani dialogues with the flute and piccolo which, placed on the stage, imitate birdsong which somehow ushers in the choir. From now on, it is the choral score that marks out the development of the music, based on the thematics that have previously appeared in the purely symphonic part of the movement and, at this point, ends up taking on its definitive form. The symphony opens in a sombre C-minor while the fifth movement ends with a luminous brilliant and, why not, heroic E-flat Major.
The "Resurrection" Symphony was premiered in a fragmentary fashion when the first three movements were performed in March 1895 by the Berliner Philharmoniker under the baton of Mahler himself before a very small audience who, like the critics themselves, received it unfavourably. The complete work was premiered some months later, in December that same year, by the Berliner Philharmoniker, with Mahler again. On this occasion it drew greater interest and enjoyed a warmer reception on behalf of critics and public alike, although a long way from the enormous success that this symphony would arouse later on.
My version of Mahler's Symphony No.2 ("Resurrection") for small orchestra was premiered by the Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España conducted by David Afkham, and with the soloists Christina Landshamer (soprano) and Karen Cargill (mezzosoprano) at the 50th anniversary concert of the Coro Nacional de España, held on the 7th of October 2021 in the Auditorio Nacional de Música de Madrid.
José Luis Turina. Madrid, May 2022
Translation: Marina and Gregory Starkey
Cover of the CD of the recording of the Symphony
Recording (fragments)
Recording: Christina Landshamer (soprano), Karen Cargill (mezzosoprano) and Spanish National Orchestra and Choir. Cond.: David Afkham
I. Allegro maestoso (fragment)
II. Andante moderato (fragment)
III. In ruhig fliessender Bewegung (fragment)
IV. Urlicht (fragment)
V. Im tempo des Scherzo (Final) (fragment)
Presentation videos of the OCNE concert
| I. Bienvenida 2.0: presentation of the concert |
| Invitation to the concert, together with Miguel Ángel García Cañamero, conductor of the Spanish National Choir |
| 50th anniversay of the Spanish National Choir Video #4. How a concert is prepared. |
| 50th anniversay of the Spanish National Choir Video #5. The concert. |
Reviews
MADRID / OCNE: 50 years and an adaptation to resurrect
By Tomás Marco
(Review published in the Internet magazine Scherzo, October 10, 2021)
Fifty years ago now, the then new National Choir of Spain (still Choir of the High School of Singing) was presented, prepared by Lola Rodríguez Aragón, with a monumental Symphony No. 2 by Mahler conducted by the then main conductor, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos. Half a century later, the commemoration required a return to the same work with the current headlines, Miguel Ángel García Cañamero, of the choir, and David Afkham, of the orchestra.
But we are in a pandemic and the enormous forces that the work requires could not be put into play, and not out of lack, but out of prudence. So it was thought to solve the problem by commissioning an adaptation to a composer of the highest solvency and that was José Luis Turina. In recent years there have been several versions with a small formation of practically all of Mahler's symphonies, but that was not what it was about, making chamber versions, but maintaining the symphonic weight of the sound, but with an orchestra of approximately half the instruments initials. An arduous task because one of the values of this work is precisely its sound density and the wide and powerful sound.
Jos&ecuate; Luis Turina is a musician with an impeccable craft and extraordinary creativity, and he has brilliantly resolved a ballot in which many, even notorious ones, would have been shipwrecked. He intelligently has not opted for a jibarization of the work but for a subtle remodeling that has required him to find orchestration solutions, many times different from those of Mahler, so that the listener perceives something very close to what Mahler did. It was not only remove, it even subtly added the piano. Goldsmith work that accredits a master, if it were not for the fact that it is amply accredited. The work is really amazing and I am sure that in audio only the change would not be perceived by a majority of fans. The most dangerous were the extreme movements, especially the first wide one, which is a torn dance of death where some string is necessarily missing but which can be replaced with dedication and absolute tuning. The work in the third is extraordinary, that of that Sinfonia de Berio that we also miss in concerts.
The National Choir was able to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary with the work with which it began its journey without diminishing its brilliance or musical depth. The choir was very good and showed that the years that have passed have underlined its validity at the service of music: David Afkham and the ONE professors understood very well what Turina had wanted to do, respecting as much as possible what Mahler did, although for this would have to decompose and recompose an entire sound mechanism. The soloists were the German soprano Christina Landshammer and the Scottish mezzo-soprano Karen Cargill, both very successful and integrated into the version. And for the public the symphony was, as always, a true epiphany of deep, sonorous and transcendent music so timely as to proclaim his own resurrection after the unfortunate period we have lived through. As in Klopstock's verses and in the music that Mahler composed on them and Turina adapted, we resurrected. It was necessary.
Reduce a universe. The OCNE performs an adapted version of the Resurrection
by Juan José Freijo
(Review published in the Internet magazine Bachtrack, October 10, 2021)
Turn the page at once. With the capacity restrictions in concert halls and theaters now lifted, the public goes to the National Auditorium with a normal disposition and, in my case, with the desire that this is the last time I have to mention the covid in a review. But on this occasion it is essential, the limitations still preside over the work of the National Orchestra, since the program consists of a single work, the monumental Resurrection, performed with barely half the usual staff - only 55 teachers. The adaptation of José Luis Turina in the hands of David Afkham, however, manages to preserve the essence of the work, in intensity, transcendence and emotional charge.
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And Mahler resurrected the coughs
By Gonzalo Alonso
(Review published in the Internet magazine Beckmesser, October 11, 2021)
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What a great way to celebrate fifty years since that presentation on October 22, 1971 with Frühbeck de Burgos at the Teatro Real with this same score! For the occasion, the OCNE has commissioned José Luis Turina to reduce the enormous instrumentation of the original score by almost half. The work has been impeccable and it is to be recognized that the sonority was not missed, perhaps also because the music stands were probably occupied by the best maestros of the group.
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Half resuscitate
by Aurelio M. Seco
(Review published in the Internet magazine Codalario, October 14, 2021)
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This bodily grandeur, which is undoubtedly typical of Mahler's Second Symphony, was diminished "by sanitary reasons" in the version presented on this occasion by the OCNE. This fundamental loss does not detract one iota of importance from the admirable reduction work carried out by José Luis Turina, but it was an unnecessary resignation that impoverished the concert, using a management, commemorative, but not musical, criteria for its programming. If it was not possible to do the Second in its entirety due to the pandemic, another work could have been done and nothing would have happened. It seems to us an unfortunate gesture to change the essence of a masterpiece of universal symphonic literature.
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