Last Night(The 23rd), our group went and saw the Berlin Philharmonic perform Mahler’s 6th Symphony. I was chosen to also do a presentation on this concert for our tour group, so first I’ll give a rundown of the venue and the piece and then give my thoughts.
The plans for the Philharmonie were drawn 35 (1920 - 1955) years after the building was idealized. It was conceptualized as an “ideal theater space” by architect Hans Scharoun, then finished being built in 1963. It was constructed in West Berlin, and became part of the new city center after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Because of its bright color and unusual structure, it gained some controversy from the public early on but now serves as a model for concert spaces all around the world. Lothar Cremer, Head of the Institute for Technical Acoustics at Berlin’s Technical University, designed the interior space. He thought the building was designed poorly for acoustics(mainly the centralized orchestra), but the complicated space appealed to his scientifically challenged side. Even though the first concert opened with a string quartet, the large and wide space allows for what Cremer calls “living movement as well as inner emotion”. This space is huge and beautiful - unlike any I’ve ever seen. We sat right behind the orchestra, which might not have been the seats that Mahler thought we would be in, but it was still an amazing hall.
Now for the piece. Mahler composed it during the summers of 1903/1904, and completed the orchestration May 1, 1905. Premiered on May 27, 1906, conducted by Mahler himself, performed by the Vienna Philharmonic. It was premiered in the US just 41 years later(December 11, 1947) by the New York Philharmonic-Symphony. In 1905, Mahler had just gotten married(1902) and had two children, so he was understandably at a very happy point in his life. However, the 6th symphony is often subtitled Tragische (“Tragic”), and he also during this time composed the final songs of his Kindertotnlieder (Songs on the Deaths of Children), much to the dismay of his wife Alma (who had just birthed two daughters). Mahler believed that artists had a sense of the future, and could not escape the pain of this ability, and that is, in part, where the tragedy in this piece comes from. The other is this story that Mahler tells of a tragic hero(perhaps himself) that is struck with three unavoidable “hammerblows of fate”. The death of Maria, his eldest daughter, in 1907, was the first of the “three hammerblows of fate”, described by Mahler. The second was the discovery of his own severe heart disease that eventually caused his death, and the third the end of his directorship at the Vienna Opera. The hammer itself appears in the final movement with three strikes - although when Mahler revised the work he removed the last of the three strokes to create sudden stillness before the conclusion of the piece. The other edit that Mahler made after the premier of the piece was swapping the 2nd and 3rd movements - partially due to pressure due to the public, partially due to compositional norms.
This concert was amazing. It was only the one piece, but it lasted about 85 minutes for the course of 4 movements. This honestly might be the best performance I ever hear in my entire life. The entire orchestra was moving and listening as one unit, despite age differences, the large space, and even one cymbal grip needing to be changed in the middle of the movement. The director knew the piece so well that he could direct sections with just his eyes, or just his shoulders. The oboe solo in the second movement had the director in tears. The hammer in the final movement was powerful. It was simply an amazing concert, and if I ever return to Europe it will be to see a concert as wonderful as this one.
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