Questions: -
1) Is the rest of it as beautiful as the Adagietto?
2) Do you know any more like that?
(1) No. It’s not supposed to be. Think of the fifth as a huge journey from tragedy (first movement) to exuberant joy (end of last movement). Listen to the symphony all the way through, and it becomes apparent that the adagietto (fourth movement) plays a crucial role in this much larger design; your appreciation of it is likely to be increased by the contrast between it and the surrounding music.
May I point out something amusing which you might not have noticed and which shows Mahler saying ‘don’t treat this adagietto too seriously’. All the timings below are from the Chicago SO/Abbado performance of the fourth and fifth movements lasting 11’55 and 14’41 respectively. Adjust my figures below accordingly depending on the timings of these movements on your CD.
Notice that the adagietto comes to small climax which subsides to 4’55, at which point a new, slightly less unruffled section begins. There’s a new tune at 5’50, running to 6’27 and beyond. Now fast forward to the fifth movement. That’s a rondo – ie a piece of music in which one section recurs with contrasting bits between each recurrence. The rondo theme is none other the new tune of the adagietto, now decidedly more jaunty and down to earth – in Abbado’s performance it occurs at 3’38 - 4’10, 6’53 - 7’32 and 12’06 - 12’54, each time developed a bit more.
Also, it’s not too soon to see how Mahler’s symphonies flow form his songs. Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen (I have lost track of the world) form the Rückertlieder (Rückert songs) is a template for the adagietto, both melodically and psychologically. Interesting, so too is Nun seh’ ich wohl… (Now I understand why such dark flames were strewn on me when you looked at me) from Kindertotenlieder (Songs on the death of children). Melodically close, but psychologically at odds. Mahler is full of these contradictions and paradoxes.
(2) The other big Mahler slow movements are those in
symphony 3, Langsam [slow], subtitled What love tells me, or What God tells me
symphony 4, Ruhevoll [peaceful]
symphony 6, Andante moderato [at a slow walking pace]
symphony 9, Adagio [slow].
[By convention, movement identifiers include the first tempo marking to appear in the score.]
None of these are the static snapshot that the adagietto is intended to be. You’ll find they all traverse emotional terrain not all restful and tranquil. 3’s is the last of six movements and works itself up into a huge conclusion befitting a symphony nearly 100 minutes long. 9’s – also the last movement – written when the composer was ill and soon to die, disintegrates into nothingness.
In all cases I urge you not to extract the slow movement from the whole work. If Mahler had wanted to write a standalone movement, he would have done. Hear the music in context.
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You might want to try Bruckner. Some people find his music heavy and ponderous – I suspect that’s often because they’re not in sympathy with it, and that’s that. Sometimes, it is poorly conducted, and sometimes it is, even now, performed in stupidly cut versions. Bruckner is both more objective and more spiritual than Mahler. His symphonies 7, 8 and 9 contain wonderful, long slow movements. Without going into the ins and outs of conductors now, I’ll say you can’t go wrong with Karajan in these works (both his DG and EMI recordings).
For something very moving, at the tragic, grieving end of the scale, Richard Strauss’s Metamorphosen for string orchestra is worth a try. The middle section is surprisingly brisk, but all the more powerful is the slow music when it subsequently returns (Previn on Philips is good.)
Despair, this time building to a piledriving, crushing climax is the hallmark of the slow movement of Franz Schmidt’s fourth symphony. If you like that, play the whole work, it’s a remarkably integrated, vast span.
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Switching continents, I am not a fan of Rachmaninov, but the slow movement of his second symphony fits the bill. No tragedy here, though maybe a bit of wistfulness here and there. Previn’s pioneering recording with the LSO on EMI is still excellent.
Shostakovich turned in some excellent slow movements, including those of his fifth and sixth symphonies. Again, expect some variety of emotion in them.
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If you really want strictly beautiful, unruffled music, you’ll find it in Arvo Pärt, amongst others (perhaps another post if people are interested).
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), but, even at this time of night, I could not let it pass without posting an immediate thanks, being as I was the person who posted the questions with which you opened your post.
Originally Posted by DaveC
