Beethoven – Symphony No. 5 (fate)

Well howdy,

So he too is nothing more than an ordinary man. Now he also will trample on all human rights and indulge only his own ambition. He will place himself above everyone and become a tyrant.

- Ludwig Van Beethoven, commenting on Napoleon Bonaparte

The fifth symphony, possibly the most well known piece of orchestral music in the history of man, even more so than his ninth (the better, in my opinion), and a wealth of compositional study.

The primary things that I got from all four movements are:
* Motivic transformation
* Motivic reiteration (in transformed states)
* Orchestrational use of motive.

So clearly there is a lot to do with motive in this piece.

In the first movement, which is written in a fast 2/4 feel, Beethoven expresses the main motive of short-short-short-long (which everyone on the planet would recognise), which is supposedly representative of “fate”. This motive is transformed and reiterated almost constantly, often with elaboration, but not in a very subtle way. What is wonderful about this movement is its feeling of majesty and power (the power of fate?), and I love how Beethoven uses a technique of orchestral expansion where he takes the melodic idea and repeats it with subtle differences across the various instrumental sections of the orchestra. As is said, this piece straddles the Classical and Romantic eras almost perfectly, and you can hear the approaching Romanticism clearly in this movement.

In each subsequent movement, the main motive is restated in various ways; be it transposed, reorchestrated, slowed down, or even purely rhythmic (timpani).

Vince

Symphony #3, 1st Movement – Gustav Mahler

At a bit over 30 minutes, this is probably a stupid choice to be writing about, as such i’ll mainly discuss the opening. The Symphony was completed in 1896 and Mahler lived between (and including) the years 1860-1911.

The majority of the opening is brass heavy. Stings and winds are mostly stuck providing walls of sound for the horns, trombones and trumpets to sit on. Eight unison French horns open the movement in a fierce display of power and it takes nearly 6 minutes before the strings and woodwind get to play something resembling normal harmonic and melodic writing.

The opening is rather spacious with soft triplet figures from the trombones and bass drum helping to move the piece forward. It feels more like Mahler is painting than composing music with each instrument generally playing the same motif or variation of an idea to create colour. Most noticeably the trumpets with the almost clichéd ‘Mahlerism’ of the ascending minor (sometimes major) arpeggio, which is heard in several other Mahler works, most notably his 5th .

Despite the constant repetition of little phrases, the trombone manages to break free and provide some melodic relief. The trombone even takes advantage of the heavy use of triplets by occasionally playing normal quavers against the rest of the ensemble, producing a tuplet feel, despite being in a simple meter.

For such a long piece I was a little shocked in my first listen to instantly recognize the opening 10 or so bars when it is reused them around 24 minutes later.

I really enjoyed the extensive part writing as the piece climaxes with an exciting march feel. In some parts it almost begins to feel like a Hollywood score, yet remains very ‘Mahler’.

Warren

Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 3 in D Minor

Gustav Mahler died in 1911 after composing a total of ten symphonies throughout a lifetime of work.

This particular work (and it is a work, not just a piece: durata 94 min. from the inside of the score) shows Mahler’s intimate understanding of each intstrument’s timbre and ability within the orchestra, and his orchestrational skills. I’m not going to pretend to listen to the whole thing right now, I’ve been trying for over a week and I just can’t do it. By the 20-minute mark I want to hear some sitars or something…

The downside to the work is that it’s generally quite dull and uninteresting to listen to, at least after the initial part of the first movement has finished (around the 5:45 mark).

The drama builds up until this point, utilizing some very rapid legato runs (dectuplet 32nd notes) which shows, as mentioned above, Mahler’s knowledge of instruments and their capabilities. The piece then changes to a stark contrast: a frollicking sound that might have inspired Disney movies. However, the darkness returns, and that seems to be the tone for the piece.

What is important to point out here is how the instruments function within the whole. During the first say, 50 bars or so, the woodwinds and brass do a good job of immitating the roles of the strings, which are completely mute. Mahler here shows an almost exporative use of the woodwinds, really using them for a part that is not traditionally theirs. The darkness is the domain of the string section! (Rules were made to be stretched, right?)

The most interesting thing about this piece is, as I said, the orchestration. Texturally the whole first movement is very rich without being too melodically intense. All of the instruments are in their right place, so to speak.

This would be a piece best heard live, rather than recorded, where you can perhaps hear the subtlety a little better.

I learned… well, I learned that I need to learn more patience. But asides that, this score is a great study in orchestral instrument interaction and should give people, as it did me, ideas for how to place instruments within a large orchestra; that same idea could be applied to a small orchestra too.

The end of this poorly  written thing.