Another Perspective- Peter Davison on the Adagietto.
The Bridgewater Hall- Mahler in Manchester
Hi everyone-
I have a crazy turnaround between gigs this week and I need to write something about Shostakovich 7 while the experience is still fresh, so we’re callin’ in the reserves.
I mentioned to Peter Davison the other day that I wanted to follow up on this piece (please do read it!) about Mahler’s song, Nun seh Ich wohl, from Kindertotenlieder. In recent years, there has been a great deal of valuable research highlighting the importance of Alma’s arrival in Mahler’s life as being part of the inspiration for the famous Adagietto movement. For much of the 20th C., many interpreters and commentators assumed that the Adagietto was about death- the later research indicated that it was about Mahler’s love for Alma. My point in that earlier post was that the piece is clearly about both love and death, and more- maybe even life. Fortunately, Peter has taken up where I left off.
Since I can’t provide the words, I’ll do what I’m best qualified for and provide the music. Mahler’s song Liebst du um Schonheit was very much a love offering to Alma- he declined to orchestrate it as part of the Ruckert Lieder because it was intended just for her. You can listen to it, Um Mitternacht and an excerpt from Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen from my concert with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Symphony and baritone Paul Rowe in December via the links below. I find it very exciting to hear these gifted young musicians responding to their first encounter with the Ruckert Lieder, and I hope you enjoy their committed playing and Paul’s beautiful interpretation.
KW
Love, Life and Death in Mahler’s Adagietto
— Peter Davison
I’m grateful to Ken for inviting me to contribute a piece to his Mahler blog. He’s off to Cambridge next week conducting the University Chamber Orchestra; another feather in his cap after his successful BBC Radio Four appearance and a powerful performance of Shostakovitch’s Leningrad Symphony in Wrexham last Saturday. Readers will know that Mahler’s Fifth Symphony will be performed at The Bridgewater Hall next Thursday 4 March by the Halle directed by Sir Mark Elder. The performance will preceded by a new work by jazz musican, UriCaine called Scenes from Childhood. But now for the blog!
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