Music and Mahler

Hey Readers,

Here is a quick little writeup I did for the latest lecture in my Honors Seminar. The lecture was a preparatory explanation of Mahler's Second Symphony ("The Resurrection") as a prelude for those who were to see it performed by Utah Symphony on Saturday the Twenty-first. My Civilization Professor gave the lecture, and it was fun to hear him speak about a piece that truly excited his passion. I can't wait for next semester when the majority of classes will be devoted to discussing some of his favorite pieces.

The writeup is short (it must be between two hundred fifty and five hundred words) and dwells more on my thoughts of Orchestral music than Mahler himself, but hopefully it will be fun to read. I would love to write an essay on Orchestral Music by itself, expanding upon the things I wrote here. Let me know what you think:

Understanding Mahler

When I think about music, especially instrumental music, I always laugh. I am a life-long musician and music-lover; nevertheless, I find the very prospect of orchestral music laughable. It is the least practical of all arts because it cannot communicate any specific information to an untrained listener. Specific music that has information coded into it (many of Bach’s works contain his musical signature and other symbols communicated by the mathematical and ordered nature of his work) are often characterized by musicians and non-musicians alike to be devoid of emotion and thus meaningless (as a Bach enthusiast, I immediately distrust the qualifications of a musician who feels that way about Bach’s music). Despite this, instrumental music (and music in general) continues to attract many disciples who dedicate their entire lives to its study and creation.

Think how silly it is! Men spend years learning the proper technique to wave their arms around. Students stew and stress over the proper way to breathe—the most intrinsic of human reflexes after the heartbeat. Short tubes of metal and hollow pieces of wood sell for many thousands of dollars. Add about a hundred years of age and some famous fingerprints and those thousands become millions.

Despite the humor and abstraction of it all, it is an undeniable truth that music does have meaning. The physiological effects on the listener alone—increased heart-rate and breathing, release of endorphins, goosebumps, and emotional stimulus, often to the point of tears—are proof of this fact. It is a skilled composer who can choose a subject, determine the meaning of the subject, and then create a sequence of sounds that emotionally communicate that meaning. By this definition, Gustav Mahler was certainly a skilled composer. It was fascinating to listen to Doctor Johnson share Mahler’s own words on the intent of his piece and explain Mahler’s compositional technique in fulfilling this intent. Merely listening to a piece only provides one layer of the work. Background and explanation provide additional layers and deepen the listeners understanding.

Thursday evening, after stewing over the lecture the entire afternoon, I made a trip up to the Music and Dance section of the HBLL and checked out the Deutsche-Gramophon Recording of Mahler’s second symphony. I am excited to listen to it over Thanksgiving break so I can put my new knowledge to fulfilling, if impractical, use.

Here's a video of my good friend Emily Brown performing at "BYU's Got Talent." She got to go up to the Symphony on Saturday night and see it performed, though the story of her adventure up to Salt Lake to see it is comically disappointing (if you're interested, ask me). I met her at Late Summer Honors and was completely amazed the first time I heard her perform. I still can't believe how talented she is, in addition to being very smart and interesting. Plus she likes Finland. For those of you who really like this song (probably Rachel, and hopefully others) she is working on an album to be released on iTunes in the (hopefully) near future. I'll certainly keep you informed. She did some amateur recording (meaning a basic microphone and laptop setup in the basement of Stover Hall on one of the old uprights down there) with my guitarist friend Mike and it was incredible how professional and radio-ready they sounded together despite the shoddy studio setup. I can't wait to hear how she sounds with some more sophisticated recording and mixing. Anyway, happy listening



Love,
Christian