Recorded 2006-2008 at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Schumann’s very own conducting venue, these inscriptions of the familiar Schumann symphonies in Mahler’s amended edition will legitimize for many the textual adjustments made for clarity’s sake. Annotator David Matthews provides a detailed description of the symphonies’ bar-by-bar adjustments, particularly those related to dynamics, Mahler made to facilitate his notion of Schumann’s best intentions. For the so-called “Spring” Symphony in B-flat Major, Op. 38 (1841) Mahler introduced 630 revisions. The 1845 C Major Symphony No. 2 received 355 changes; the Third Symphony in E-flat Major “Rhenish,” Op. 97 (1850) 465; the Fourth in D Minor, Op. 120 (1841; rev. 1851) 466. A musical curio is Toscanini’s adopting the Mahler version of the Schumann D Minor Symphony when the Italian maestro came to the New York Philharmonic in the 1930s.
What most reaches our ears in the course of the “Spring” Symphony is the brisk presence of the horn parts, along with palpable crescendos and diminuendos to achieve more terraced dynamics than Schumann had originally wrought. An added trumpet in the last movement doubles the upper string part. In fact, the trumpets, trombones, and French horns gain a brazen sound both adventurous and emotionally pungent. For the C Major Symphony, the very opening removes Schumann’s horn and trombone so the trumpets play alone, a softly eerie effect; the movement’s coda alters Schumann’s designated ‘sempre forte’ to a resounding fortissimo. Chailly sets the Un poco piu vivace as a series of nervous metrics which often explode into feverish frenzies up and down the chromatic scale. Taking the repeat adds to the simmering effect, a study in graduated histrionics. Where Schumann had opted for consistency of dynamics in the Scherzo--like mezzo-forte and sempre forte in the coda--Mahler substitutes staccati, pizzicati, and omits the majority of woodwinds and brass until bar 373. No repeat of trio number one. The second trio (with oboe and string ostinati) becomes a smooth gloss, Romantic cream.
The exquisite Adagio espessivo quite adumbrates much of Mahler’s own personality, and his edition here grants the theme and its agonized, trilled chromaticism a mountain ethos, Friedrich’s “The Wanderer Above the Sea of Mist” made flesh, even in counterpoint. Chailly takes the last movement rather fast, emphasizing its character as a virtuosic march with skittering, pizzicato subtexts. Muted trombones appear, hopefully to allow the bassoons some credibility. The trumpet triplets never sounded so good. Mahler did not like Schumann’s harmonization bars 559-563, so he opts for a moving bass line on G rather than on Schumann’s designated F. The aerial effect lightens the texture certainly, but it also propels the materials forward in a most adventurous volley of joyful sounds, redolent with hymnody.
While the Rhenish Symphony’s first movement retains its exuberant energy, its trumpet parts in the first movement--originally extended over 311 bars--has been reduced by over one third, and Mahler has edited the tympani part as well. The horn parts that remain gain an added luster, their appearance, especially four horns in unisono, forte, against pianissimo flutes and oboes. This is Schumann’s most confident symphony, at least in his own orchestration. The two performances that set this music apart for me forty years ago were those of Bernstein and Szell; and now, Chailly imparts a grand, driven panache to this inspired score. Mahler terraces the dynamics in the Scherzo, moving from mezzo-piano for fortissimo. Chailly keeps the affect airy, a sort of martial andante, the horns and buzzing strings in constant communion. The last pages beguile in their hints of Austrian laendler, even in the midst of strong horn and woodwind pedal points. More Schubertian touches for the third movement, Nicht schnell, in which pizzicati lighten the texture. Mahler alters the violin and viola pizzicati, now to be played forte, at the opening of Schumann’s contrapuntal Feierlich movement, its layered strings and horns evocative of the Cologne Cathedral. The finale moves at a stately pace, Mahler having revised the trumpet and trombone parts to assure their effectiveness when they do appear. Chailly’s string attacks and woodwinds’ bite keep the music briskly charged, and the big climaxes enjoy a jubilation as sweet as they are vibrant.
Mahler changed the horn parts of the Fourth Symphony’s outer movements extensively, wishing to create a thinner texture that would allow the diverse, interior lines more clarity. Chailly pushes the opening movement after the langsam indication quite hard; the violins have gained more sonority in Mahler, and an added tympani can add a C and D-sharp to the harmonic mix. With added horn parts and tremolo effects removed, the entire ethos has lost its pesant, gloomy character and become a through-composed symphonic etude for a virtuoso ensemble. Doublings tend to remain intact in the two interior movements, and the Romanze moves between chorale and dreamy rhapsody along the same minor scale that permeates the entire symphony. The Scherzo has the cello and bass in the Trio section enjoy a pizzicato effect for the eight-bar phrases. Chailly urges this music along, the scale of the Romanze singing, even sliding, forward. An extra drum, extra horns, and cutting the finale’s exposition make the transition and last movement dramatically fluid; in fact, the horn parts assume a decidedly “display” role, along with brilliant trombones, all supported by doubled bass trombone, bassoons, cellos, and violas. The high horns give the coda what Rick Blaine would called “a wow finish.”
Any good score-reader can glean the sum of Mahler’s emendations to Schumann’s rich music; but the real thrill of these Chailly readings is the totally acute response of a world-class Gewandhaus Orchestra, an instrument surgically secure, whose spirit has been revitalized by their affection for their gifted conductor.
--Gary Lemco