Subscription Concert C Series

Subscription Concert No.995 C Series

This concert is over. Date: Thu. 22. February 2024 14:00 (13:00)

Venue: Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre Venue Info Seat

[Inbal / TMSO The 3rd Mahler Series: 1]

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Eliahu INBAL, Conductor

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Program

Mahler: Symphony No.10 in F-sharp major (Cooke version)

Program Notes

Mahler: Symphony No.10 in F-sharp major (Cooke version)

Ⅰ Adagio: Andante - Adagio
Ⅱ Scherzo: Schnelle Vierteln
Ⅲ Purgatorio: Allegretto moderato
Ⅳ Scherzo: Allegro pesante. Nicht zu schnell
Ⅴ Finale: Langsam, schwer - Allegro moderato

Gustav Mahler: Born in Kalischt, Bohemia, July 7, 1860; died in Vienna, May 18, 1911

　　Mahlerʼs contention that “a symphony should be like a world; it must embrace everything” is fully borne out in his last testament: anguish, despair, joy, exuberance, regret, terror, agony, peace and much more are found in this symphony, many parts of which reach into psychic realms even Mahler had never before penetrated.
　　A shroud of mystery, controversy and misunderstanding has surrounded Mahlerʼs Tenth ever since the composerʼs death in the spring of 1911. Bruno Walter, the Mahler disciple who conducted the premieres of the Ninth and Das Lied von der Erde, refused even to look at the Tenth. An early biographer and friend of Mahler, Richard Specht, wrote that the Tenth “will never come to performance … it is quite impossible that anyone could complete a score from his mute symbols.” Mahlerʼs widow refused until 1963 to allow the sketches to be performed. Numerous Mahler scholars and conductors including Leonard Bernstein, Bernard Haitink, and Raphael Kubelik have steadfastly refused to acknowledge a bona fide complete Tenth.
　　Yet obviously there is more, much more, to this work than the single Adagio movement that used to stand as proxy for the whole symphony. What we hear at this concert is designated the “revised performing version of the draft” as prepared by the English musicologist Deryck Cooke (1919-1976). The chronology of events leading to this version is long and involved, but it offers one of the most fascinating stories in musicology of the twentieth century. The story has been well documented, especially in numerous articles by Cooke himself. In much condensed form, it runs as follows:
　　In 1924, Mahlerʼs widow Alma decided to reveal a portion of the symphony to the world. She asked Ernst Krenek to edit the two movements most nearly complete, the long opening Adagio and the curious little “Purgatorio” third movement. These were conducted by Franz Schalk in Vienna on October 14, 1924. (The two movements were published only in 1951.) The same Richard Specht who had previously claimed the Tenth “will never come to performance” thereupon reversed his position and issued a call for “some musician of high standing who is devoted to Mahler and intimate with his style” to prepare a performing edition of the entire five-movement symphony. Among the famous composers approached were Schoenberg and Shostakovich, but it was destined for musicologists to fulfill the quest: Joe Wheeler and Deryck Cooke in England, Clinton Carpenter and Joseph Mazzetti in the United States, the Russian conductor Rudolf Barshai, the Israeli-American conductor Yoel Gamzou, and a pair of Italians, Giuseppe Mazzuca and Nicola Samale, all working independently, have prepared seven additional performing versions of the symphony. An eighth, by the German Hans Wollschläger, was abandoned in 1959 when he changed his mind on the feasibility of the undertaking. There are also a couple of chamber orchestra versions. Of these ten, only Cookeʼs revised version has acquired any currency to date.
　　Cooke first came face to face with the problem of the Tenth in 1959, when he was commissioned by the BBC to write a brochure about Mahlerʼs symphonies as part of the 1960 Mahler centennial year observations. Not content to accept only the two published movements of the Tenth, Cooke investigated Mahlerʼs sketches and found to his surprise that the composer had left the symphony in an advanced state of development. Every bar of each movement had been continuously laid out, from beginning to end. These were no mere fragments. The first movement had been fully orchestrated, the third was nearly complete, and there was a four-staff “open” score with many instrumental cues for nearly everything else. Cookeʼs fascination and absorption with the Tenth extended to copying out by hand all the sketches Mahler had left, fully orchestrating everything himself and preparing a performance-cum-narration for radio broadcast. On December 19, 1960, the BBC carried a broadcast of the first, third and fifth movements complete, plus substantial portions of the two Scherzo movements introduced by Cookeʼs lecture. Berthold Goldschmidt conducted the Philharmonia Orchestra.
　　Fired by the success of this venture, Cooke prepared to refine and conclude his cause célèbre when Alma stepped in, refusing permission for any further broadcasts. But she had never even heard the first one, and when finally, three years later, she was persuaded to listen to a copy of it, she was so moved that she immediately retracted her previous stricture. Alma died shortly thereafter, and in her possession were found 44 additional pages of manuscript, hitherto unknown, which enabled Cooke to complete his performing version of the symphony. The first complete performance was given by Goldschmidt and the London Symphony Orchestra on August 13, 1964 in Royal Albert Hall. The Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy gave the American premiere in November of 1965 and made the first complete recording of the work.
　　Cooke continued to work on and refine the orchestration. His revised “performing version of the draft” was published in 1976. Essentially, Cookeʼs accomplishment lay not in composing but rather in orchestrating the sketches (many of which already contained indications and cues), determining the harmonies, adding contrapuntal lines, and generally filling out the texture. In his revised version, he augmented each woodwind and brass section from three to four (only the horns remained at the original number of four; he also added a fifth clarinet). Cooke also incorporated additional adjustments that he felt brought “the sonority of the music nearer to the true ‘Mahler soundʼ in so far as that is possible.”
　　The 25-minute Adagio is an extended elegy imbued with profound nostalgia, passionate intensity, glowing colors and sinewy chromaticism. Three main ideas − the opening meditation for violas alone, the soaring theme spanning two octaves for the full string orchestra; and a lighter, dance-like subject − alternate throughout the movement. The climax intrudes suddenly as monolithic, organ-like chords burst forth in the brass, accompanied by sweeping figurations in the harp and strings. Trumpets scream a sustained high note while massive, terrifying dissonances hurl themselves against it. The agonized, nightmarish episode dissipates almost as suddenly as it appeared.
　　The first of two scherzos, each about twelve minutes in length, is characterized by an exuberant mood and almost constantly changing meters (“one of Mahlerʼs most astonishing leaps into the future,” to quote musicologist Michael Steinberg). There are two contrasting episodes, each reminiscent of the dance-like Ländler.
　　The centerpiece of the five-movement structure is the tiny, four-minute “Purgatorio.” While writing the symphony, Mahler learned that his wife Alma was having an affair with the architect Walter Gropius. He titled the movement not after Dante, but in reference to a poem by Siegfried Lipiner about betrayal.
　　The second scherzo combines music of spectral visions and demonic fury with dance-like impulses. “The devil dances it with me,” Mahler wrote in the score. Shrill outcries alternate with ghostly rustlings in some of the most advanced music Mahler ever wrote.
　　Mahler preserves the symphonyʼs symmetrical layout in a long, slow finale. Utter desolation pervades the movementʼs opening pages. Eventually a long, arching flute solo of ineffable beauty spreads its consoling message over the gloom. This theme is developed at great length, and is interspersed with elements from previous movements as well (notably the sustained scream of anguish from the trumpets), each bringing its message of distress, tension or passion. The final pages open out onto a world of serene resignation and tenderness. “To live for you! To die for you!, Almschi,” Mahler wrote over the last notes, his way of showing that he had passed beyond the pain of betrayal from the woman he still loved.

　Robert Markow's musical career began as a horn player in the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. He now writes program notes for orchestras and concert organizations in the USA, Canada, and several countries in Asia. As a journalist he covers the music scenes across North America, Europe, and Asian countries, especially Japan. At Montreal's McGill University he lectured on music for over 25 years.
　

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