LPO-0012 Mahler booklet

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Gustav Mahler 1860 – 1911 Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (1897) Wenn mein Schatz Hochzeit macht Ging heut’ morgen übers Feld Ich hab’ ein glühend Messer Die zwei blauen Augen von meinem Schatz

Langsam. Schleppend – Immer sehr gemächlich

(With vigorous movement, but not too fast)

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Feierlich und gemessen, ohne zu schleppen –

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19:04

Songs of a Wayfarer Symphony No.1 in D

Symphony No.1 in D (1899)

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GUSTAV MAHLER

(Slow. Dragging – always very steady)

Kräftig bewegt, doch nicht zu schnell (Ländler Scherzo)

THOMAS HAMPSON baritone KLAUS TENNSTEDT conductor LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

(Solemn and measured, without dragging)

Stürmisch bewegt

(With stormy movement)

THOMAS HAMPSON baritone KLAUS TENNSTEDT conductor London Philharmonic Orchestra David Nolan leader

LPO – 0012

A BBC recording

Gustav Mahler was not only a great composer but also one of the most celebrated and sought-after conductors of his age. This meant that his time for composition was severely limited (in later years to summer holidays in the mountains), and he was forced to concentrate on a small number of major works. These belong entirely to two categories, sometimes overlapping: one was the song-cycle or song collection with orchestra, a genre which he virtually invented; the other was the symphony, a form to which he brought an unprecedented expansion of scale and expressive range. And his first masterpieces in each category, composed within a few years of each other during his twenties, are closely related musically and emotionally.

Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, ‘Songs of a Wayfarer’, were written towards the end of 1884, while he was working at the court theatre in Kassel; they were orchestrated early in the following decade, and revised before their first performance in Berlin in 1896 and publication the following year. The poems, Mahler’s own, reflect the failure of his love affair with a singer in the Kassel company: their protagonist, he said, is ‘a wayfarer who has met with adversity setting out into the world and wandering on in solitude’. The folk-like simplicity of

their diction finds a counterpart in the simple melodic shapes of the vocal line; but in other ways the score is extraordinarily sophisticated, with minute indications of dynamics and expression in the orchestral parts, and restless inflections of tempo.

In the first song, the wayfarer reflects on his sadness at his girl-friend’s marriage to someone else, but finds solace in nature.

In the second, he expresses his delight at setting out through the fields on a fine morning, but concludes sadly that his joy will not bloom again. The third song, in which he describes his suicidal impulses, brings a sudden outburst of violence, in which (almost) the full orchestral forces are used together for the only time. In contrast, the last song is a restrained funeral march, as the wayfarer finds lasting peace in death under the linden-tree.

Mahler’s First Symphony constitutes an astonishing début in the form, with its assured and imaginative scoring for very large orchestra, its unconventional formal construction, and its apparent eccentricities of gesture and mixing of styles. It was mostly written in a frenzy of creativity in six weeks in early 1888, while Mahler was working at the Leipzig Opera. At its first performance, in Budapest in November 1889, it was called ‘symphonic poem’;

and for a performance of a revised version in Hamburg in 1893, Mahler provided movement titles and an explanatory programme drawn from Jean Paul’s novel Titan. But by the time the work reached publication in 1899, it was called simply ‘Symphony in D major’ and had lost all its programmatic references (as well as losing one of its original five movements, an Andante called ‘Blumine’ which had been placed second). Nevertheless, it remains as autobiographical in feeling as, say, Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique or Tchaikovsky’s later symphonies, and its cross-references to the ideas and moods of the Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen offer some clues to Mahler’s intentions.

The first movement begins with a slow minor-key introduction, a nature scene of immense space and stillness with birdsong, distant fanfares, and pregnant stirrings of melody. A figure appears in this spring landscape with a paraphrase of the second of the Fahrenden Gesellen songs, which is repeated: it seems that the main Allegro of the movement is under way. But the slow nature music returns, to launch a wide-ranging development section which throws up new ideas en route to a fanfaring climax and the exuberant return of the song material. The second movement is an A major scherzo in rustic ländler rhythm, with a trio section full of lazy Viennese

Royal College of Music, London

Gustav Mahler 1860 – 1911

charm and a shortened reprise. The ‘solemn and measured’ D minor third movement was inspired by an engraving of a hunter’s funeral procession accompanied by all the forest animals. The main rondo theme is a parodistic version of ‘Frère Jacques’, or to German children ‘Bruder Jakob’, in a grotesque round led by solo doublebass; contrasting episodes bring echoes of klezmer music, traditionally associated with Jewish funerals, and a paraphrase of the resigned ending of the Fahrenden Gesellen cycle. The last and most complex movement breaks in with what Mahler called ‘the sudden outburst of a wounded heart’, creating an impact comparable to that of the third Fahrenden Gesellen song (though with different music). This ‘stormy’ F minor introduction leads to a resolute march theme and a yearning violin melody, followed by a development section bringing back ideas from the first movement and again generating new ones, in what becomes a tumultuous struggle to regain the Symphony’s home key. The first glimpse of it is short-lived, fading to the nature-music of the opening and disjointed fragments of themes including the yearning string melody. But the resolute march reasserts itself, to lead the way to a second fanfaring return to D major, consolidated this time in a triumphant conclusion.

Anthony Burton 2006

Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen Songs of a Wayfarer Text Gustav Mahler

Text Gustav Mahler

Wenn mein Schatz Hochzeit macht

When my darling has her wedding-day

Wenn mein Schatz Hochzeit macht fröhliche Hochzeit macht, hab’ ich meinen traurigen Tag! Geh’ ich in mein Kämmerlein, dunkles Kämmerlein, weine, wein’ um meinen Schatz, um meinen lieben Schatz!

Blümlein blau! Verdorre night!

Vöglein süß! Du singst auf grüner Heide.

Ach, wie ist die Welt so schön!

Ziküth! Ziküth!

Singet nicht! Blühet night!

Lenz ist ja vorbei!

Alles Singen ist nun aus.

Des Abends, wenn ich schlafen geh’, denk’ ich an mein Leide.

An mein Leide!

When my darling has her wedding-day, her joyous wedding-day, I will have my day of mourning!

I will go to my little room, my dark little room, and weep, weep for my darling, for my dear darling!

Little blue flower! Do not wither!

Sweet little bird – you sing on the green heath.

Oh, how is it that the world is so beautiful!

Chirp! Chirp!

Do not sing! Do not bloom!

Spring is past!

All singing must now stop.

At night when I go to sleep, I think of my sorrow.

Of my sorrow!

Ging heut’ morgen übers Feld

I walked across the fields this morning

Ging heut’ morgen übers Feld, tau noch auf den Gräsern hing.

Sprach zu mir de lust’ge Fink, “Ei du! Gelt? Guten Morgen! Ei gelt?”

Du! Wird’s nicht eine schöne Welt?

Zink! Zink! Schön und flink!

Wie mir doch die Welt gefällt!”

I walked across the fields, this morning; dew still hung on the grass.

The merry finch said to me, “Hey you! Isn’t it a good morning? Hey! You! Isn’t it becoming a beautiful world?

Chirp! Chirp! Beautiful and agile!

Oh but how the world delights me!”

Auch die Glockenblum’ am Feld hat mir lustig, guter Ding’, mit den Glöckchen, klinge, kling, ihren Morgengruß geschellt, “Wird’s nicht eine schöne Welt?

Kling, kling! Schönes Ding!

Wie mir doch die Welt gefällt! Heia!”

Also, the bluebells in the field, merrily and with good spirits, chimed out to me with their bells, ding, ding, their morning greeting, “Isn’t it becoming a beautiful world?

Ding, ding! Beautiful thing!

How the world delights me! Hey!”

Und da fing im Sonnenschein gleich die Welt zu funkeln an; alles Ton und Farbe gewann im Sonnenschein!

Blum’ und Vogel, groß und klein!

“Guten Tag, ist’s nicht eine schöne Welt?

Ei du, gelt! Schöne Welt?”

And then, in the sunshine, the world suddenly began to glitter; everything gained sound and colour in the sunshine!

Flower and bird, large and small!

“Good day, is it not a beautiful world?

Hey you! Isn’t it a beautiful world?”

Nun fängt auch mein Glück wohl an?

Nein, nein, das ich mein’, Mir nimmer blühen kann!

Will my happiness also begin now?

No, no, my happiness can never bloom!

Ich hab’ ein glühend Messer

I have a glowing knife

Ich hab’ein glühend Messer, ein Messer in meiner Brust.

O Weh! Das schneid’t so tief in jede Freud’ und jede Lust.

Ach, was ist das für ein böser Gast!

Nimmer halt er Ruh’, nimmer halt er Rast, nicht bei Tag, noch bei Nacht, wenn ich schlief.

O Weh!

I have a glowing knife, a knife in my chest.

Oh! It cuts so deeply into every joy and delight.

Ah, what an evil guest it is!

Never does it rest, never does it ease, not by day or by night, when I would sleep.

Oh Woe!

Wenn ich in dem Himmel seh’, seh’ ich zwei blaue Augen stehn.

O Weh! Wenn ich im gelben Felde geh’, seh’ ich von fern das blonde Haar im Winde wehn.

O Weh!

When I look up into the sky, I see two blue eyes.

Oh Woe! When I go into the yellow field, I see her blond hair in the distance blowing in the wind.

Oh Woe!

Wenn ich aus dem Traum auffahr’ und höre klingen ihr silbern’ Lachen, O Weh! Ich wollt’, ich läg auf der schwarzen Bahr’, könnt’ nimmer die Augen aufmachen!

When I wake from a dream and hear the tinkle of her silvery laugh, Oh Woe! I wish that I was lying on my black bier, and that I could never again open my eyes!

Die zwei blauen Augen

The two blue eyes

Die zwei blauen Augen von meinem Schatz, die haben mich in die weite Welt geschickt.

Da mußt ich Abschied nehmen vom allerliebsten Platz!

O Augen blau, warum habt ihr mich angeblickt?

Nun hab’ ich ewig Leid und Grämen.

The two blue eyes of my darling, they have fated me to go into the wide world.

I must to take my leave of this beloved place!

Oh blue eyes, why did they gaze at me?

Now I will have eternal sorrow and grief.

Ich bin ausgegangen in stiller Nacht wohl über die dunkle Heide.

Hat mir niemand Ade gesagt.

Ade! Mein Gesell’ war Lieb’ und Leide!

Auf der Straße steht ein Lindenbaum, Da hab’ ich zum ersten Mal im Schlaf geruht!

I went out into the still night far across the dark heath.

No-one said farewell to me.

Farewell! My companions are love and sorrow!

On the road stands a linden tree, and there for the first time I rested in sleep!

Unter dem Lindenbaum, der hat Seine Blüten über mich geschneit, Da wußt’ ich nicht, wie das Leben tut, War alles, alles wieder gut!

Alles! Alles, Lieb und Leid und Welt und Traum!

Under the linden tree that snowed its blossoms onto me, I did not know how life went on, and everything, everything was well again!

All! All, love and sorrow and world and dream!

numerous Grammy nominations and a Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording for Tannhäuser in 2002 (TELDEC), two Edison Prizes, three Gramophone Awards (1994), the 1992 Grand Prix de la Nouvelle Académie du Disque, the Grand Prix du Disque, the 1994 Charles Cros Académie du Disque Lyrique, as well as the esteemed Toblacher Prize for his recordings of Mahler.

Further information on Thomas Hampson can be found at www.hampsong.com

Simon Fowler

American baritone Thomas Hampson is recognised for his versatility and breadth of achievement in opera, song, recording, research and pedagogy. He studied with Sr. Marietta Coyle, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Martial Singher, and Horst Günther, and enjoys the reputation of being one of today’s most respected, innovative and sought-after soloists.

Hampson’s operatic roles span an enormous diversity of repertoire from Rossini to Verdi and Puccini and from Monteverdi to Britten and Henze. He is a regular guest on the world’s most prestigious opera stages – Metropolitan Opera, Wiener Staatsoper, Opernhaus Zurich, San Francisco Opera and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden.

Thomas Hampson is a passionate singer of Lieder from Schubert, Mahler, and Wolf to the songs of American poets and composers like Walt Whitman and Copland. As The Times observed from this 1991 concert recording of Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen: ‘Thomas Hampson impressively sustained his long lines, finding an enviable colour between and within songs’.

In demand as a soloist as well as a recitalist, he is the most recorded artist of his generation. Many of his recordings have received critical and public acclaim:

KLAUS TENNSTEDT conductor Born in East Germany, Klaus Tennstedt studied at the Leipzig Conservatory and conducted throughout his native land but it was not until he moved to the West in 1971 that he started to achieve world recognition. He made his American debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1974 and his debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 1977. He had an instant rapport with the London Philharmonic Orchestra which resulted in return invitations and his appointment as the Orchestra’s Principal Conductor and Music Director in 1983. This developed into a unique and remarkable relationship until illness finally brought it to a premature end some ten years later. Klaus Tennstedt died in 1998.

Tennstedt was particularly renowned for his performances of the German repertoire, especially Mahler whose symphonies he conducted regularly with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall and on disc to huge public acclaim. His energy, musicianship and emotional involvement combined with a rare humility endeared him to audiences and musicians alike. Mahler’s Symphony No.1 is a work with which Tennstedt had a very special affinity. In addition to regular concert performances, many of which

were broadcast, he recorded it five times, three times with the London Philharmonic Orchestra (including this live recording) and with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Richard Holt

THOMAS HAMPSON baritone

Also available from the London Philharmonic Orchestra

LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA The London Philharmonic Orchestra has long established a high reputation for its versatility and artistic excellence. These are evident from its performances in the concert hall and opera house, its many award-winning recordings, its trail-blazing international tours and its pioneering education work. Kurt Masur has been the Orchestra’s Principal Conductor since September 2000, extending the line of distinguished conductors who have held positions with the Orchestra since its foundation in 1932 by Sir Thomas Beecham.

These have included Sir Adrian Boult, Sir John Pritchard, Bernard Haitink, Sir Georg Solti, Klaus Tennstedt and Franz Welser-

Möst. Vladimir Jurowski was appointed the Orchestra’s Principal Guest Conductor in March 2003. The London Philharmonic Orchestra has been resident symphony orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall since 1992 and there it presents its main series of concerts between September and May each year. In summer, the Orchestra moves to Sussex where it has been the resident symphony orchestra at Glyndebourne Festival Opera for over 40 years. The Orchestra also performs at venues around the UK and has made numerous tours to America, Europe and Japan, and visited India, Hong Kong, China, South Korea, Australia and South Africa.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra with Klaus Tennstedt

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