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Mahler Foundation
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Mahler Foundation is the center for education and promotion of the music of Gustav Mahler to everyone around the world.
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Des Knaben Wunderhorn - Urlicht
Mar 23, 202101:46:09Tap to summarizeA listening guide of Des Knaben Wunderhorn - Urlicht with Lew Smoley from ClassicalPodcasts.com.
Transcribe →Mahler Lieder Eines Fahrenden Gesellen – Die Zwei Blauen Augen (The Two Blue Eyes)
Mar 23, 202100:17:01Tap to summarizeThe final movement culminates in a resolution. The music, also reused in the First Symphony (in the Scherzo “Funeral March in Callot’s manner”), is subdued and gentle, lyrical and often reminiscent of a chorale in its harmonies. Its title, “Die zwei blauen Augen von meinem Schatz” (“The Two Blue Eyes of my Beloved”), deals with how the image of those eyes has caused the Wayfarer so much grief that he can no longer stand to be in the environment.He describes lying down under a linden tree, allowing the flowers to fall on him. He wishes to return to his life before his travels. He asks that the whole affair had never occurred: “Everything: love and grief, and world, and dreams!” ---A listening guide of Lieder Eines Fahrenden Gesellen – Die Zwei Blauen Augen with Lew Smoley
Transcribe →Klavierquartett - Piano Quartet Movement in A minor (1876)
Mar 23, 202100:13:26Tap to summarizeGustav Mahler score Klavierquartett, piano quartet, Movement 1: in A.---A listening guide of Klavierquartett with Lew Smoley.
Transcribe →Mahler Lieder Und Gesänge Aus Dem Jugendzeit – Zu Strassburg Auf Der Schanz (At Strasbourg On The Battlement)
Mar 22, 202100:08:05Tap to summarizeThe tenth song in this collection, “Zu Strassburg auf der Schanz” (At Strasbourg on the battlement), starts with a very colorful piano entrance marked “as a folk tune” and “imitating the shawm.” As Donald Mitchell points out, this is of a type very characteristic of Mahler in his vocal as well as symphonic output: the slow farewell song or funeral march…We have a relatively simple example of the kind, remarkable chiefly for the piano’s imitation of the “Schalmei,” the chalumeau or herdsman’s pipe, which lures the homesick soldier into swimming the Rhine by night. There is also the imitation, in the left hand, of the military drums that accompany his capture, his conviction as a deserter, and the march to his execution. Mahler explicitly instructs the right hand to play “like a chalumeau,” and notes for the left: “In all those low trills the sound of muted drums is to be imitated by means of the pedal,” a clear indication that he was moving towards a song form with orchestra.---A listening guide of Lieder Und Gesänge Aus Dem Jugendzeit – Zu Strassburg Auf Der Schanz with Lew Smoley.
Transcribe →Mahler Lieder Und Gesänge Aus Dem Jugendzeit – Starke Einbildungskraft (Strong Imagination)
Mar 22, 202100:02:07Tap to summarizeOne of the challenges with the ninth song in this collection, “Starke Einbildungskraft” (Strong imagination), concerns clarity of articulation. Sixteenth-note passages sound unclear with the piano part due to the imbalance of lower tones produced by both the piano and tuba. Changes have been notated in the tuba version to reflect these issues of clarity. Staccato markings and accents on the fronts of passages as well as the sixteenth-notes should ensure a clearer melodic line. The tubist could perform this work up an octave if he or she could achieve the desired clarity.The shortest of the songs in this collection is a brief sweet conversation between a boy and a girl, but the simplicity of the melody makes it very musically challenging. ---A listening guide of Lieder Und Gesänge Aus Dem Jugendzeit – Starke Einbildungskraft with Lew Smoley.
Transcribe →Mahler Lieder Und Gesänge Aus Dem Jugendzeit – Nicht Wiedersehen! (Never To Meet Again)
Mar 22, 202100:07:30Tap to summarizeBalancing the soft low texture with piano remains one of the main challenges for tubists in the penultimate song in this collection, “Nicht wiedersehen!” (Never to meet again). It is scored very low on the piano and would be easy to lose the melody inside of the harmony of the accompaniment. Mahler instructs the pianist to use the pedals freely, however perhaps the dampening pedal should be the most important. The effect of the sustain pedal will be too much for this song, especially when the pitches between the piano and tuba overlap.The first three notes of this song are the most challenging notes on a Germany Rotary bass tuba in F, especially at a soft dynamic, like piano. The performer may modify articulations to assist in increasing the line’s accuracy and clarity. The first note after a breath should have a stronger articulation, as sometimes noted by a tenuto marking above or below the specified note.“Never to meet again”.---A listening guide of Lieder Und Gesänge Aus Dem Jugendzeit – Nicht Wiedersehen! with Lew Smoley.
Transcribe →Mahler Das Lied von der Erde – Der Trunkene im Frühling
Mar 22, 202100:31:27Tap to summarizeThe second scherzo of the work is provided by the fifth movement. Like the first, it opens with a horn theme. In this movement Mahler uses an extensive variety of key signatures, which can change as often as every few measures. The middle section features a solo violin and solo flute, which represent the bird the singer describes.---A listening guide of Das Lied von der Erde – Der Trunkene im Frühling with Lew Smoley.
Transcribe →Lieder Und Gesänge Aus Dem Jugendzeit – Phantasie Aus Don Juan
Mar 22, 202100:02:58Tap to summarizeA listening guide of Lieder Und Gesänge Aus Dem Jugendzeit – Phantasie Aus Don Juan with Lew Smoley from ClassicalPodcasts.com.
Transcribe →Mahler Lieder Und Gesänge Aus Dem Jugendzeit – Ich Ging Mit Lust Durch Einen Grünen Wald (I Went Joyfully Through The Green Woods)
Mar 22, 202100:04:27Tap to summarize“I went joyfully through a green wood,” is a beautiful slow melody challenging the tubist to keep a consistent color of sound in the low register of the bass tuba. The first note is the lowest in the entire collection, a low G. Fingered 2-3-4-5 on a German Rotary F tuba, this pitch is a whole step above the fundamental of the instrument and somewhat unresponsive with less secure intonation and tone.Starting the C major arpeggio on a low G, this opening phrase serves as a wonderful exercise for the tubist as they work on consistency of tone, response, and intonation in this challenging low register.---A listening guide of Lieder Und Gesänge Aus Dem Jugendzeit – Ich Ging Mit Lust Durch Einen Grünen Wald with Lew Smoley.
Transcribe →Mahler Das Lied von der Erde – Von der Schönheit
Mar 22, 202100:28:06Tap to summarizeThe music of this movement is mostly soft and legato, meditating on the image of some 'young girls picking lotus flowers at the riverbank'. Later in the movement there is a louder, more articulated section in the brass as the young men ride by on their horses.There is a long orchestral postlude to the sung passage, as the most beautiful of the young maidens looks longingly after the most handsome of the young men.---A listening guide of Das Lied von der Erde – Von der Schönheit with Lew Smoley.
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