Yet there are so many wonderful 'first' symphonies. Vaughan Williams, Shostakovich, Brahms, and Franck have remarkably assured hands, just to name a few. Mahler would certainly be quite at home amongst stellar first symphonic creations.
While I might send a listener to Haydn or Mozart to understand the pure beauty and form of the symphony itself, it is Mahler I would go to for how to most effectively create and develop thematic and motivic material. It is here Mahler shows the listener the sheer musical and emotional possibilities for the symphonic art form.
Mahler writes in such bright, bold colors for each of his melodic ideas. This makes his music not only easy to follow, but also easy to identify each time his thematic ideas return, when they are developed or manipulated, and their course and ultimate arrival point. This is an integral part of what makes a fine symphony, and Mahler was just so good at it.
His Symphony no. 1 begins with that mystical forested element which was so pervasive in his earlier Das Klagende Lied, and an aspect Mahler seems so at ease with in his early works.
The following two movements bridge the gap with a peasant dance and a wry funeral march on the tune Frère Jacques, paired with a Romani dance band. Once one gets to the final movement, one can hear the point of using such disparate tunes and settings from the middle portion of the symphony.
The final movement is the real journey, one where Mahler brings some elements back from earlier in the work, but really focuses on moving from conflict to resolution, a concept carried over to the composer's Symphony no. 2. With both of these symphonic works, there is a true feeling of a journey and arrival upon its conclusion, one of the most important aspects for this listener. The fact Mahler allows it to be so easy to hear all of the motivic elements makes it much easier on the listener.
1964: London SO, Solti
1975: London SO, Levine
1984: Chicago SO, Solti
For now, we will have a very basic list of Mahler reviews above. The current list covers the most recent spate of listened recordings, not necessarily the best or most worthwhile. The older recordings are from our collection but newly reviewed, and the newer recordings represent recordings which were recommended to me. Until we at The Oozy Channel Keep have gotten ourselves up and running, this should suffice and we can reorganize the page a little more coherently in the future.