February- The Month of Romance (Romantic Era)!
This is the first post of my “Listening with Hannah” blog, built for my lovely students, their families, and anyone else!
These posts include a specific movement or a smaller section of a piece that I find compelling, interesting, or crazy. It will include a description or analysis of what I personally hear and a couple questions for you to answer after listening. If you read the detailed description with time stamps, be sure to use the link to the YouTube video I used for the time stamps! That will give you the exact moments I am referencing in the commentary (Link is at the bottom of the post).
Also, I have underlined certain words that might be unfamiliar to you… if you would like to know more about them, write them down and mention it in our next lesson and we can talk about it!
The Basics:
Today I am sharing one of my most favorite gut-wrenching movements of the late Romantic symphonies. It is a very long symphony, clocking in at just under an hour and a half for this recording by Herbert von Karajan. The first movement alone is just under 30 minutes! But lucky for you, one of my favorite moments is just within the first 5 minutes. Watch from the beginning to 5:18 and listen longer if you like! 2:55-3:10 is the moment I absolutely love.
Gustav Mahler wrote his 9th symphony around 1808-09, and it premiered in 1912 after his death in 1911, which means he unfortunately never heard it performed. I love this piece because of its heart wrenching melodies and never-ending phrases that I can’t stop listening to. I especially listened to this symphony a lot during the beginning of the pandemic when everything felt uncertain and out of control. It helped me cope with the stress and anxiety and feelings of uncertainty. But at the same time, the lovely moments of sunshine gave me hope for the future.
The details that make it shine:
The beginning starts soft, which is fairly unusual for this time period. You start with piano notes in the cellos, the harp, french horn, and you don’t even really know what key you are listening to. But then the violins enter with a two-note motive, and the basses tell you exactly what key we are in at 0:24 (D major, YAY we made it!).
The melody starts with these small two-note motives (0:24) that you can hear through the whole piece as it unfolds. The violins and french horn talk to each other a bit, then the oboe player gets to say something (0:57). This plays out into longer melodies for a bit, then we do it all over again (1:07 is the second phrase) with more instruments involved, and a higher register on the E string now!
But suddenly it turns sour (1:38). All these lovely melodies starting on major 3rds (scale degrees), switch to minor 3rds. Things get stranger and more tumultuous. This is the dark side of the moon, perhaps (humor me). It builds to a really big moment (2:32), which feels like the moment we’re waiting for, but no, it keeps going, and going, and GOING, (and we get a little Major moment in the low and high brass at 2:39) until WA-BAM-- We reach the top of the mountain, and the bottom of the world drops out at the same time (at 3:05). Listen out through 5:18 to finish up the first section of this amazing work of art.
More nerdy moments:
He slips into the key of Bb major in 3:29-33, then makes that the next phrase change back into D major, making it feel even more impactful in 4:10-13 (which isn’t D major yet actually, psych! It’s A major) Then it does some crazy stuff and gets back “home” to D major in 4:41.
OK so 5 minutes later, here we are…
Remember our audience member in 1912? Yup, he still has an hour and 24 minutes to go.
My favorite movement of this work is actually the final Adagio movement, which is definitely worth a listen if you’re looking for study music or work music this week. The work ends as quietly as it begins, which would be disorienting for our listener for sure!
Happy listening, and happy practicing!
Questions:
How did this excerpt make you feel?
Which parts did you prefer, the long singing violin melodies, or the big orchestral moments?
Respond in the comments, or let’s talk about it at our lesson!
Video Link: