Sequels: After Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde

[@jimryon1002]

Very informative, thank you David

[@Plantagenet1956]

Fabulous talk, David. Thank you so much for this great idea. I’ll be exploring more. I have seen Songfest, live, and it was superb. Conducted by Lenny.

[@jgesselberty]

Great suggestions. The song symphony is a unique genre. One of my favorites, based on more uplifting poetry, is the Vaughan-Williams "Sea Symphony."

[@lpldl]

I swear I was just thinking of Penderecki's sixth, which I liked, when this video was posted. Very glad that you liked it too! Thank you for doing these fascinating talks. I'm so glad that I discovered your channel, which has filled my to-buy list till the next eternity. Ah what a world that will be... allüberall und ewig...

[@davidblackburn3396]

2 weeks ago I listened to the Gorecki straight through for the first time in about 10 years, and fell in love with it all over again. There is something truly magical about it. I am totally unfamiliar with the Penderecki, but I'll remedy that soon enough. Great stuff, thank you David.

[@michaelmurray8742]

Looking forward to exploring some of these. Thanks.

[@AlexMadorsky]

I’m a huge fan of Shostakovich’s “uplifting” 14th symphony. I’ve listened to many, many recordings, mostly as part of complete cycles. It probably says some not very great things about my mental well-being that Shostakovich 13 & 14 are my favorite choral symphonies.

[@TienTran-nm6ms]

My college roommate gave me looks for listening to the 14th, especially the crazy lazy laughing, which sounds like a fatal bout of sneezing. Khokhochu! It's gripping stuff. Lorelei is a whole opera in itself!

[@ftumschk]

Thanks for making me aware of Burton and his symphony; I'm listening to it right now, and it's fabulous.

[@howardmcclellan2022]

Shostakovich actually suggested that the Suite on Verses of Michaelangelo should be regarded as his sixteenth Symphony. This is mentioned in Sikorski's catologue (2nd edition) on p.219 of his works.

[@cappycapuzi1716]

I knew an Italian priest who thought that Russian was the most singable of languages because it uses so many vowels. Very easy to rhyme in as well.

[@jimryon1002]

I have played Songfest with Bernstein's daughter as narrator.

[@edwinbaumgartner5045]

I'm really happy: You mentioned one of my favourite Bernstein-pieces, my most loved Shostakovich's and I learned about a to me unknown composer, Burton. I will order the CD and I'm quite sure, I will love it. One more composer I will add for the list, it's the Swiss Othmar Schoeck with "Lebendig begraben" (Buried Alive - a very cheerful long poem by Gottfried Keller). Fischer-Dieskau recorded it and destroyed barking the vocal line, but there's a new recording, I do not know yet. It's symphonic in the sense of consequent development, not a song cycle, but through composed, some of the poems are rezitatives, some work as an aria. It's a real great piece of post-romanticism.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

And I will have to check that out! Thanks.

[@MikeRusso2000]

@davesclassicalguide - I’ve a long car trip ahead of me, so I’m revisiting a few of your discussions to assemble a playlist. That leads me to a question on a contemporary work that could also fall into this unique category. I’m interested in your thoughts on John Harbison’s 5th Symphony that draws on poems about the Orpheus myth. Interesting stuff to my mind, but perhaps Harbison’s not your cup of tea…

[@marknewkirk4322]

I know it's not a sequel, but there is a parallel that I love between Das Lied and Janacek's opera The Cunning Richard Nixon, er, Little Vixen. Both pieces end with a world-weary man wandering into the wilderness looking for "rest for my lonely heart". The music is veyr different because Das Lied ends with a blue Alpine haze, and Janacek in a dream in a verdant forest.

[@jacobmorris3664]

After Pelleas, it's my favorite opera. And, yes, there's a spiritual kinship with Das Lied, which has been the soundtrack to way too much of my life.

[@cappycapuzi1716]

I'm absolutely getting the Burton.

[@johnwright7749]

Shostakovich’s 14th has been my favorite sequel to Das Lied von der Erde, but now it must be joined by Thomas Ades’s Totentanz of 2013. Its 15 songs alternate Death sung by a baritone and all the other personae starting with a preacher and concluding with a child sung by a mezzo-soprano. A marvelous work that as it nears its conclusion sounds really Mahlerian and ends with “tanzen,” sung over and over very much like “ewig” in Das Lied. It’s premiere recording on DG is with Mark Stone and Christianne Stotijn and the Boston Symphony under Ades. One of the top recordings of 2020 in my opinion!

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Yes, but it's download only, which really pisses me off.

[@johnwright7557]

@@DavesClassicalGuide No, it's available from Presto Music on CD for $14.25 and of course also contains Ades's wonderfully wacky Piano Concerto. I bought my copy right after the CD was released.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

@@johnwright7557 Thanks for the tip,

[@lawrencerinkel3243]

One of my favorite Bernstein memories from the later years is hearing him conduct Songfest with the NYP paired with Schumann 2. I like the Slatkin. As I'm sure you know, the setting of Ferlinghetti's "The Candy Pennystore Beyond the El" is totally 12-tone.

[@davidhickey1182]

I warmly agree with you on Bernstein's Songfest - I never thought that I would ever hear it cited and praised. What about Rachmaninoff's The Bells or Adams' Harmonium?

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Those are choral works. I love them both, but not as sequels to Das Lied.

[@jacobmorris3664]

The final movement of The Bells feels very DLvdE. What a gorgeous final couple minutes!

[@2906nico]

Great to get shout outs (shouts out?) for three of my favourite works, the Turina, The Michelangelo Suite, and Songfest. Penderecki's music is bunk, except for the St Luke Passion. I have never heard any Burton. One to explore.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

If you haven't heard the Penderecki, you are not in a position to say.

[@ulfskjran4077]

Ludvig Irgens-Jensen: Japanischer Frühling. Recorded on Simax with Ragnhild Sørensen, soprano and Eivind Aadland. With the Bergen Phil, I think.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Not big or "symphonic" enough, although I love it. I thought about it hard, though, and recommend it to anyone. I don't know if you say my video on Irgens-Jensen. If not, have a look.

[@ulfskjran4077]

Yes, I thought the "smallishness" of it could be the reason for its non-inclusion here. I've seen the video, it's very important that you give this spectacular music some much-needed attention.

[@davidmayhew8083]

Marriage killer! Lol! Love you Plath impersonation! You say "Pendereski". Why the "s"?

[@ce2167-n1t]

Dear Mr. Hurwitz! Thanks again for fantastic video. Even Amazon store has linked your recommendations into algorithm, meaning that you are not only helping us, but recoding companies too. I was wondering, in a naive way, why the majority of labels (ditto to Naxos, Supraphon) are not giving you a permission to provide samples? They can only benefit from that.

[@theosalvucci8683]

Has anyone heard these two works by Martinu: Magic Nights and Nipponari - two orchestral song cycles based on Chinese and Japanese poems, respectively?

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Yes, and they are terrific.

[@VallaMusic]

the Gorecki I tried to like, I really did - and I tend to like spacious, slow and minimalist music - but it was a no go for me - it simply bores me to tears

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Fair enough!

[@dizwell]

Hello David: Would Britten's Spring Symphony count as a Das Lied sequel, do you think?

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

I was thinking of that, but there's too much chorus. It's more of a Mahler 8 type of thing--choral work with mixed texts.

[@ftumschk]

@@DavesClassicalGuide I initially thought of Babi Yar, but ruled it out on the same "too much chorus" basis.

[@rbmelk7083]

RB Melk My fiancé, who is a professional freelance violist, is a Shostakovich freak! Neither of us are familiar with the Suite of Verses of Michelangelo Buonarroti, but that will likely change soon. On the topic of sequels, would you consider Rued Langgaard’s Third Symphony (which, let’s face it, is really a piano concerto) to be a sequel to the Schumann and Grieg Piano Concerti? It also seems to be one of those pieces, kind of like Strauss’ Death and Transfiguration, that is in search of a theme, which it finally gets around the midpoint of the finale before all the craziness with the wordless choir ensues.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Well, it's an interesting work, but a sequel to Schumann and Grieg? Not really, in my opinion.

[@adamfrye246]

I wanted to ask which Bach cantata the last movement of Das Lied is based on? I saw somebody mention it on amazon one time but can't remember, and couldn't find it on wikipedia either.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

That's because it isn't true.

[@adamfrye246]

@@DavesClassicalGuide So how should I think about hearing that? Is it an historical mis-attribution? Since you are sure it isn't accurate I would assume you have heard it before...

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

@@adamfrye246 I have no heard it before but I'm pretty familiar with the Mahler literature and I have not seen specific Bach cantatas mentioned in connection with that work. I have seen the motets mentioned in connection with the first movement of the Eighth.

[@adamfrye246]

@@DavesClassicalGuide Well, if you ask me, if somebody thinks it's true then a music historian should take up the question to say definitely whether it is or not...imo. I went to youtube when I remembered the cantata in question and thought "wow, that sounds just like it." Guess I could at least read more about the Eighth Symphony.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

@@adamfrye246 I am a music historian, and I will say that it is not true.

[@im2801ok]

What about Britten's Spring Symphony? Sure, the mood and sentiment are completely different than in Mahler's work, but this evident song-symphony was most probably inspired and influenced by it.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Already discussed.

[@estel5335]

Do you know a certain Dawn Spencer Hurwitz, David?

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

No.

[@ThankYouKiwi]

Is Berg's altenberglieder too short to be included?

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Way too short...

[@vinylarchaeologist]

Dave, haven't you reached enough subscribers to be allowed by KZbin to choose your own thumbnails? I know it's not your fault, but this stuff is getting creepier by the day 😅 Wonderful talk, as always!

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

I like my thumbnails, mostly!

[@mogmason6920]

Ewig

[@ThankYouKiwi]

ewig indeed