Look For Ives Symphony No 3 Orchestral Set No 1 at Amazon
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Gustav Mahler (1860 – 1911) was an Austrian composer and conductor. He finished nine symphonies and left a tenth unfinished. He worked his way up through a heap of opera houses in Europe until he became conductor of the Vienna Court Opera, one of the most esteemed opera houses in Europe. He was best known in his lifetime as a conductor, and it wasn’t until the middle of the 20th century that his music became more well known. This was partly due to his music being very innovative (for the times), complex, most of the symphonies need a very big orchestra, and the works are lengthy. It also didn’t aid his cause when his music was banned for the duration of the Nazi era in Europe because of his Jewish heritage. Composing for Mahler remained a part-time action for most of his life, undertaken for the duration of the opera and concert off-season. Later in life he would do his composing in a little hut that he had built by the lake and away from his main house. The 1st Symphony was finished in 1888. He in the first place called it a two-part tone poem but after the premiere he made spacious revisions and called it his firstborn symphony. One of the conclusions he made was to reduce it to a more traditionalisti 4 motion symphony when he annihilated one of the middle movements. The symphony calls for a very big orchestra, over 100 players. Mahler was principally influenced by a book of German folk poems called Des Knaben Wunderhorn, or The Youth’s Magic Horn. He set a good deal of of these poems to music all around his life beginning with four songs that he called Lieder eines fahrended Gesellen, or Songs of a Wayfarer. The opening motion of the primary symphony uses the music of one of these songs, Ging heut’ Morgen übers Feld, or I Went This morning Over The Field. The second motion is a German Ländler, while the third motion shows Mahler at his morose best. The opening of the third motion is the folksong Frere Jaque (Bruder Martin in German) played in the minor key as a funeral march. Mahler’s inspiration for this was a visual he had of a group of animals of all description marching with the corpse of a hunter for burial. This motion also uses one of the songs from Lieder eines fahrended Gesellen. The final motion is the most complex as a lot of of the antecedently heard music is brought back and interspersed with new themes. Mahler once said, “A symphony must be like the world. It will have to comprise everything.” His music is big in each sense of the word. Big in expression, forces used, length and complexity. And each one of his symphonies is like a world unto itself. Most helpful customer reviews 37 of 37 people found the following review helpful. The Third comes closer to the mark. It consists of American themes woven together with ingenious counterpoint into wholly original forms. It is a jewel, and just the kind of pretty, low-key piece that brings out the best in Neville Marriner and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. The Fourth is the masterpiece, the work Ives struggled toward all his life. Dohnanyi and the Cleveland Orchestra do a creditable job that stands up well to the competition from Stokowski and Tilson Thomas. I especially liked the engineering in the second and fourth movements, which captures some details others don’t. (I’d never heard the wind machine before.) As a bonus, you also get Ives’ great orchestral sets, both in fine performances with Dohnanyi. The No. 1, better known as Three Places in New England, is the more famous, but the Second is sublime. This reasonably priced set is a great, convenient way to acquire some of Ives’ best music all at once. 26 of 26 people found the following review helpful. Each of the symphonies is very well performed, though none of these are what I would call the Definitive Recordings. However, the Mehta performance of the First is exceedingly good, and I don’t really see how it could possibly be improved on. . . Dohnanyi’s performance of the Fourth is a little restrained for my tastes, but it is nonetheless an interesting interpretation. Dohnanyi more than proves himself a able interpreter of Ives in his performances of the two orchestral sets, which are, without a doubt, the highlights of this album. J. P. Burkholder’s liner notes add some very interesting insights into each of the works.
Based on the overall quality of these individual performances, I would give them four stars. However, considering that each of these two CD’s contains almost 80 minutes of Ives, and considering the inclusion of these wonderful orchestral sets, this compilation is very worthy to be rated at five stars. 18 of 19 people found the following review helpful. First Symphony (D minor!) is a study work, written in school years, so he didn’t abandon the principles of harmony(!)
Second Symphony (F Major, except the last chord of music!) contains themes of some famous composers (Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Dvorak) and last chord is hysterical of course…
Third Symphony is a winner of Pulitzer, and written for a chamber orchestra
And Fourth Symphony is one of the best compositions by Ives. All performers are very good. Especially Dohnanyi and his Cleveland Orchestra (in 4th Sym.), Zubin Mehta and his Los Angeles PO (in 2nd Symphony) are excellent…
In other words, this set is a must have for all Ives fans. |
A great set