Mahler: Symphony No. 9 | Semyon Bychkov and the Czech Philharmonic (full symphony)

Caught between a lust for life and fear of death: Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 9 in D Major is his last completed musical work. His 'Ninth' is considered by many the Austrian composer's most brilliant work – almost a preparation of his musical legacy, in which he already anticipates his own farewell. In this 2019 concert at the Rudolfinum in Prague, Symphony No. 9 in D Major is performed by the Czech Philharmonic, conducted by Semyon Bychkov.

(00:00) Coming on stage
(00:31) I. Andante comodo
(29:50) II. Im Tempo eines gemächlichen Ländlers. Etwas täppisch und sehr derb
(46:02) III. Rondo – Burleske. Allegro assai. Sehr trotzig
(59:20) IV. Adagio. Sehr langsam und noch zurückhaltend

The ninth symphony Gustav Mahler (1860 – 1911) composed actually ought to have been his tenth. That things turned out as they did owes itself primarily to the fateful events of 1907 – a low point in Mahler's life. His older daughter Maria Anna died of diphtheria at just four years old, his relationship to his wife Alma was turbulent, and he himself was diagnosed with an incurable heart disease and was terrified of death. Not even his career gave him strength; on the contrary, after an anti-Semitic press campaign against him, Mahler was forced to resign from his post as director of the Vienna Court Opera. It was in music alone that he found solace.

In 1908, he began composing Das Lied der Erde based on a collection of poems about the beginning and end of earthly existence, adapted from translation from their original Chinese by Hans Bethge. In effect, the six-movement work should have become his ninth symphony – but the gravely ill, superstitious Mahler wouldn't have it! Both Beethoven and Bruckner had died shortly after or during the work on their respective ninth symphonies, after all. He was, incidentally, by no means alone in this: Even Arnold Schoenberg once said that whoever had wrote a ninth symphony was surely on the brink of death.

Perhaps Mahler was in better spirits by 1909? Perhaps he wanted to face his fears? Whatever the cause, when he completed another four-movement work in 1910, he had no qualms in calling it his 'Ninth Symphony in D Major'. The grand themes of Das Lied der Erde are continued here: The farewell to life, the meaning of existence, dying, the redemption of this world – but also love, joy and pain. Earthly tragedy meets divine rapture.

Quite unlike his opulent eighth symphony, in the ninth symphony Mahler uses a very small orchestra by his standards, thereby eschewing the 'mass of sound' characteristic of the late Romantic period. As such, the symphony is oft thought of in musicology as a swan song to the age of Romanticism, and the beginning of modernism – embodying as it does both a farewell, and a departure. For Mahler himself, this symphony would literally become the finale of his life in music. He did not live to see the Vienna premiere conducted by Bruno Walter on June 26, 1912. Mahler passed away on May 18, 1911, aged 50.

The Czech Philharmonic enjoys a long tradition and worldwide acclaim – their trademark characteristic being their 'soft sound'. The orchestra's home stage is Prague's Rudolfinum concert hall, with their first ever concert given there on January 4, 1896; a program of works by Antonín Dvořák, conducted by the composer himself. In a 2006 music critic survey conducted by the French music magazine Le Monde de la musique, the Czech Philharmonic ranked amongst Europe's ten best orchestras, and in 2008 the British magazine Gramophone named it among the 20 best orchestras in the world.

Semyon Bychkov was born in 1952 in Leningrad, in the Soviet Union. In 1975 he emigrated to the USA, returning to the Soviet Union as principal guest conductor of the Leningrad Philharmonic in 1989. In the same year he was appointed music director of the Orchestre de Paris. His international career had begun some years earlier when he filled in for some highly-regarded contemporaries on several occasions – conducting orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic, and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. He conducted the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne from 1997 to 2010, and from 1998 to 2003 was chief conductor of Dresden's Semperoper. Following many years of working as a guest conductor with the Czech Philharmonic, in 2018 he became its chief conductor and musical director.

© Czech Philharmonic, 2019

Thumbnail: © Petra Hajska

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