Your favourite movement of Mahler 9

[rappy]

Feel free to pick one!

[Varg]

The Adagio.

[Joe Barron]

The andante. It is not only my favorite movement, but it contains my favorite moment in the entire symphony.

[rappy]

Which one? The trombones? 

I think #1 is the best, but I fell in love with that hilarious second movement and voted for that one as I think the first movement will get enough votes anyway

[jochanaan]

The one I'm listening to. 

[M forever]

1,2,3, and 4.

[Keemun]

Andante, followed closely by the Adagio.

[Joe Barron]

Which one? The trombones? 

Without a score in front of me, I can only say it's the one where some strings play a melody.

[greg]

At first, i'd say the 1st movement, but now i think it'd have to be the 4th.

What i've noticed that's interesting is how much he gets out of such little material. You have two sections that go like this: A B A B A B A (the A of course being very long each time). It's such a solid structure, I wonder if Mahler wrote this way to avoid being accused of rambling on, yet wanted to keep the size of the symphony large at the same time.


As for a favorite moment, that's obviously a very hard one to say...... if i just HAD to say, i'd first choose bars 107-114, with the return of the falling chromatic motif in the 2nd violins.
Next would be the section of bar 64-73, ESPECIALLY the "ending" bar of the A theme which has the most amazing chord progression which I've been trying to wrap my mind around for a while:

A - G - F# - E -   D - C -  B - A
           G#      -  C         G
Bb     - E        -  A          E
Eb     - C        -  F          C#
                                   A
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< crescendo, up, to HEAVEN!

Then would be the final two bars, with the inverted theme's head being played on the violas while the cellos support the Db and Ab and the violins sustain a quiet F far above, a note that seems to desire eternity...... such a simple, but amazing use of the Lydian mode.


Listening to this music and then thinking about ANYTHING, i realize that this is truly the greatest thing in the world.

[val]

My favorite is the first, Andante Comodo. I never understood why did Mahler compose two movements in the style of a Scherzo following each other.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

My favorite is the first, Andante Comodo. I never understood why did Mahler compose two movements in the style of a Scherzo following each other.

That's not quite true, I think. The Rondo is also a transition to the final Adagio. So it's only half a Scherzo.

Btw I didn't vote. If there was an option 'They all shine', I would have chosen that.

[Renfield]

The adagio, for its sheer concentration. Though I love them all to bits!

[mahler10th]

The first movement because of the way we are drawn into it from the outset.  Beautiful.

[Operahaven]

None.

Mahler may be pleasant enough but he is when it comes down to things an arbitrary and almost grotesque composer who rarely rises above the level of Broadway.... I do not understand why he is even ever performed anymore.

[DavidRoss]

...I do not understand why he is even ever performed anymore.

That's right!  You don't!  And given the attitudes you have demonstrated countless times over the years here, you are not ever likely to, either...especially since you revel in your handicap and mistake it for a virtue.

Re. Mahler's 9th--I don't have a favorite movement, but maybe on next hearing one will speak magic to my ears.

[greg]

None.

Mahler may be pleasant enough but he is when it comes down to things an arbitrary and almost grotesque composer who rarely rises above the level of Broadway.... I do not understand why he is even ever performed anymore.

Mahler compared to Broadway?



i'd like to see a Broadway composer ever pull of the mastery of counterpoint and orchestration that Mahler can. Ever read through a score of his?

[drogulus]

What i've noticed that's interesting is how much he gets out of such little material. You have two sections that go like this: A B A B A B A (the A of course being very long each time). It's such a solid structure, I wonder if Mahler wrote this way to avoid being accused of rambling on, yet wanted to keep the size of the symphony large at the same time.

     I think you're on to something here. If you're going to write such long symphonies they must have a strong structure. I wouldn't say he wrote that way in order not to be accused of something. More likely he just knew that only a strong architecture that you could follow would work on such a massive scale. The same could be said of Bruckner, and in this respect the composers really do belong together.

None.

Mahler may be pleasant enough but he is when it comes down to things an arbitrary and almost grotesque composer who rarely rises above the level of Broadway.... I do not understand why he is even ever performed anymore.

    Where did you get that? From the old forum? It sounds like jBuck.

[M forever]

Operahaven may be pleasant enough but he is when it comes down to things an arbitrary and almost grotesque poster who rarely rises above the level of kindergarten for ******... I do not understand why he is even still spamming this forum.


Edited, Q

[BachQ]

Andante in d minor

[Operahaven]

M and Greg,

Let me explain what I mean:  I find Mahler's habit of taking something folksy or childish or circus-like and blowing it up to grotesque proportions irritating to say the least. I imagine many people find it gives his music a tragic, black irony; I don't - I find it, as I say, irritating and somehow trashy; the result, to me, is the opposite of profound... And I don't think I'm alone if I hear in his music what certainly can't be scientifically proven but does seem to strike a chord with a number of people: not just self-indulgence but self-pity, a tendency to scream a bit too histrionically,  "Look at me, my life is a terrible, terrible tragedy"  at the top of his voice.

M, hopefully you will understand now.