Much ado about Mahler

The darkest days of winter are upon us, but thankfully the Czech Philharmonic is offering a two-night run of a beloved piece of music from one of the most significant conductors of the 20th century: Gustav Mahler's Fifth Symphony.

Mahler composed the symphony in 1901 and 1902, during a period of intense personal upheaval for the Bohemian-born conductor, who came from a humble family and lived in Kaliště and Jihlava for much of his childhood. The Fifth Symphony is considered a transitional piece for Mahler, as the conductor was to move into his middle period during the composition of this piece, characterized by its leaner structure and a purer approach to orchestration than much of his earlier work. Whereas Mahler's first four symphonies relied heavily on vocal music, the composer would favor stricter orchestral compositions from the Fifth Symphony onward.

As such, the Fifth Symphony is a vital piece of music, because it acts as a hinge between Mahler's late-Romantic tendencies and a style that was relatively more modern. This is especially significant in the life and work of a transitional figure like Mahler.

Mahler's Fifth Symphony is marked by a diverse emotional palette over the course of five movements. The music transitions from a familiar, funereal solo trumpet opening to a stormy Scherzo and a Rondo-Finale that is disrupted by an Adagietto for strings and harp. This variety of tone and timbre, as well as Mahler's use of counterpoint, which had been largely absent from his earlier work, is precisely why the Fifth Symphony is considered so significant today. Unfortunately for Mahler, these elements meant that the symphony was largely misunderstood during the conductor's lifetime.

"Nobody understood it. I wish I could conduct the first performance 50 years after my death," Mahler famously remarked after the symphony's premiere.

Much attention has been paid to Mahler's Fifth Symphony in recent years, and to one part in particular - the closing note of the first movement. Since Bruno Walter made the first recording of the composition in 1947, most conductors have followed his lead by playing this final note forte. This changed with Ivan Fischer's interpretation of the piece with the New York Philharmonic in 2001, which caused music critic Gilbert Kaplan to remark that Fischer had ushered in an era of new - and more correct, he claimed - understanding of Mahler's Fifth Symphony. It will be interesting to see how Eliahu Inbal, principle conductor of the Czech Philharmonic, navigates this passage.

Originally from Israel, Inbal has been the director of the Czech Philharmonic since 2009. Prior to his tenure in Prague, he was principal conductor of the hr-Sinfonieorchester in Frankfurt between 1974 and 1990. He was chief conductor at La Fenice in Venice from 1984 to 1989. Inbal is intimately familiar with the work of Mahler and has conducted the composer's music with orchestras around the world.

Regarding Mahler's continuing popularity, Inbal has pointed to the conductor's ability to mimic vicissitudes of emotion in his work.

"Fears and hopes together are represented in the music of Mahler ... For instance, he writes something beautiful but then there is an opposition to that. There is something nasty happening at the same time as a nice melody, because life is like that," he said.

These performances of Mahler's Fifth Symphony are part of Inbal's ongoing plan to perform and record all of Mahler's symphonies over the course of the 2010-11 season. The next installment will be a performance of Mahler's Tenth Symphony Jan. 27. Prague audiences will have more opportunities to hear this respected conductor lead the Czech Philharmonic in his interpretations of Mahler's marvelous music.

Stephan Delbos can be reached at
sdelbos@praguepost.com