LA Phil Blog

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man




Songs of a Wayfarer:


2) Mahler wrote the "story" of the 4-song cycle himself: in the first song, the "hero" witnesses the wedding of his beloved to another and the joy that typically surrounds a wedding is juxtaposed with his (understandable) sadness; in the second song, the hero appears in a better mood as he wanders out into the world and is greeted by a happily singing bird, but this optimism fades by the end of the song; in the third song, the full force of the orchestra mirrors the hero's explosion of emotional turmoil; and the fourth song functions as a funeral march to signal the end of the love affair and the hero's figurative "demise."

Symphony No. 4:

1) Clocking in at a relatively brief 55 minutes, Mahler 4 is the composer's shortest symphony and is doubtless his most lighthearted work - the opening is marked by the cheerful tinkling of sleigh bells, meant to evoke the lighthearted gaiety of youth.

2) Lighthearted being a relative term for Mahler, the second and third movements veer from eerie to solemn before the fourth, called "Das himmlische Leben," presents a child's view of Heaven.

You can read more about the program and hear samples of both pieces here.

Once you've boned up on this weekend's offerings, get ready for 3 more weeks of Mahler - the LA leg of The Mahler Project is just getting started!