NOSPR / Zagrosek / Mahler’s happiest symphony - NOSPR

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The most joyous one among Gustav Mahler’s symphonies does not, by any means, renounce either the grotesque irony that is so typical for the composer or eschatological threads. Yet again, it deals with the subject of death. This time, however, it is first represented by the grotesque Ländler played by the violin in the scherzo, later to introduce us to the realm of paradise in the finale. But is this true paradise, or rather an image, ironical in its effect, that arises from the naive folk poetry of The Boy’s Magic Horn collection, which the composer uses in his symphonies for the last time?

Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 will be preceded by a concert overture, beethovenian in its style, by a Dutch colleague of the Bonn genius, one who introduced both Beethoven’s and Mozart’s music to his fatherland’s stages. No wonder, then, that it was that style exactly that Johann Wilhelm Wilms found inspirational not only for his Overture in D major, but for his symphonies as well. The exceptionally graciously led woodwind instruments remind us of the fact that the composer was also… a professional flutist.

Jakub Puchalski