Horning it up in Mahler

One of my favourite blog posts of all time is Kenneth Woods exhaustive summary of youtube videos of the hammer blow in Mahler 6 (here). While this post will be slightly less entertaining it is on a similar theme. I'm conducting Mahler 1 at the end of May and my horn section (and others) have been having a debate about whether and when they should stand in the last movement, and the position of the reinforcing trumpet and trombone. The opinion between players ranges from being excited about trying anything, wanting to do it but not thinking it works in the one beat Mahler asks for it to happen in, to not being convinced it works full stop. Similarly there is a wide range of opinions over the placement of the extra trumpet and trombone Mahler asks for. So what do you decide to do as a conductor based on these differing opinions?

Obviously the first thing is to look at the score. It's important to remember when conducting any of Mahler's music that he was one of the best conductors of his time, and constantly changed the markings in his score after performances in order to make them more practical for players and conductors. While you may look at scores for other composers and find there are balance issues and effects asked for that are nigh on unplayable, Mahler was incredibly practical and anything which made it into later revisions of his score will have been tried countless times. Not only that but when he has long footnotes for the conductor or indicates that something should explicitly not be done in the way which might seem natural, this will be emphasised because it goes against what players expect or would like to do.



This footnote translates as "From here on (and definitely not 4 bars earlier) to the end, it is recommended that the horns be strengthened to the extent that the all-overwhelming hymnlike chorale reaches the necessary fullness of sound. All the horn players stand, in order to obtain the greatest possible power of sonority. If necessary also one trumpet and one trombone may be added." We can see that Mahler leaves no room for doubt about what he wants, with the position of the extra trumpet and trombone also clear ("placed near the horns").

So the first point for any conductor and players must be to assume that Mahler knew what he was asking for and to try that. However, browsing youtube videos indicates that this isn't what always happens. Here's a quick look at some attempts. I've not included any where the horns don't do anything, and this even includes such legendary recordings as Bernstein with the Vienna Philharmonic! All the videos start just before the horns should stand up.

Spot on!



A bit messy but in the right place.



Not only early but all over the place.



Also early but great to see the woodwind with their instruments up in the air just afterwards.



Interesting one where the put their bells up instead.



I'll leave you to judge for yourself which of these work best but for me there is an extra burst of energy and excitement doing what Mahler has written in the score. For any conductor these are the sort of practical decisions can turn a performance into something special for both orchestra and audience as can be seen by the response (see 12 April post) to a recent performance by the Philharmonia. "When the last movement came, and all the Philharmonia horns rose to their feet at the climax, nothing could stop us! The performance got them standing on their feet and roaring their approval."

So in conclusion you'll have to turn up to St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral on Saturday 28th May to see what our horn section do, but in the meantime - don't mess with Mahler!