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Rating: PRELUDE:
Mine is a review that is anything but technical; indeed, from this point of view, I'm not an expert on the subject, and therefore my review is written by a layperson, purely out of passion. I believe that we need to overcome this obstacle, that classical music reviews don't necessarily have to be written only by experts. So with my simple review, I do not aim to describe the tones and semitones used in this symphony. I hope that with my simple and unpretentious review, even those who are not accustomed to classical music might take an interest in this intriguing world, a world that many often flee from perceiving it as reserved only for the cultured, rich, and sophisticated. Classical music, on the other hand, is created and composed by men, who, through the powerful means of music, manage to deeply express emotions, struggles, and all the significant situations of life with a depth that is rarely found in other types of music.
After this long prelude, I am ready to talk about Mahler. For me, a sublime composer! In a comment made here on debaser, a user intelligently remarked that in music not everything has yet been said, "Even at the beginning of the twentieth century, everyone thought that as far as symphonic discourse was concerned, everything had been said with Beethoven and a few others, but then Mahler came along". Yes, exactly like that, yet those who know just a bit about classical music have never heard of this composer, who was only reassessed by the critics in the second half of the twentieth century and also had his moment of cinematic glory thanks to Luchino Visconti, who used the Adagio from the Fifth Symphony in the film "Death in Venice".
Mahler is considered by critics to be a post-romantic, as someone who, along with a few others, opened the doors to modern music, but Mahler’s music stands on two shores, classical and modern, being personal enough that it cannot be labeled or confined to one of these two styles!
The Fourth Symphony is perhaps the least daring, the most classical, almost a homage to the great masters of the past who preceded and influenced him. Indeed, in the first movement, the theme of Mozart, "the son of Salzburg," echoes, and even the orchestra used is equipped with a limited ensemble and more "traditional" instruments, while the orchestras used by Mahler were famous for their grand size and numerous instruments. The tone of this symphony reflects idyllic and pastoral atmospheres. It seems that Mahler aimed to create an oasis of calm and tranquility with this symphony, considering instead the tumultuous times, the suffering, and the lack of coherence found in the subsequent symphony, which is thematically linked to this fourth one. In short, we are in contemplation, amidst idyllic landscapes, pondering life, nature, and even passion, although from afar we glimpse those clouds and begin to hear the echoes of thunder that will manifest in the next symphony! I love the central part of the first movement, with what I consider, as a layperson, a "instrumental fugue," where there is already a conception of modern music (far from romantic themes), with that unique way the instrumentation is utilized! The second movement is a scherzo, which surprised me from the first listen, thanks to that violin that seems to evoke almost a sensual dance, but not quite, certainly a fascinating and dancing sound! However, the highest point of the entire symphony is the third movement "Poco Adagio". I do not yet know all of Mahler's symphonic works, but currently, I consider it one of his most moving pages and, as someone here on debaser once said, "To understand the Adagio of the Fifth Symphony, you need to listen to that of the Fourth, which completes it". Mournful and tormented passion, memories that cause pain, a state of mind full of doubts reverberate through the terribly felt and passionate notes, in a movement that begins very calmly and then expresses all the inner discomfort, its wild passion, its existential crisis, in a unicum where peace and sensuality echo. It remains the only passionate moment in an idyllic and contemplative oasis represented by the rest of the symphony. In the last movement, a lyrical female voice is introduced, and the theme of the first movement is taken up again frantically, as if to represent past memories emerging confusedly and unclearly. This fourth movement is a lied taken from the cycle "Das Knaben Wunderhorn" in which the joys of paradise are described!
I hope I have sparked your curiosity because Mahler deserves it!
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