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Subscription Concerts 2022-2023Program A
No. 1965 Subscription (Program A)

Program

Mahler / Symphony No. 9 D Major

Mahler shrunk from the "Curse of the Ninth," as Beethoven passed away after the completion of his Ninth Symphony and Bruckner died while still working on his Ninth. And hence, our superstitious composer avoided this by labeling his virtual ninth, Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth). However, he couldn't break the jinx when his next one, this time called No. 9, became the last symphony he completed before his demise in May 1911.
No. 9 was written mainly in the summer of 1909. Back in 1907, Mahler's elder daughter died of an illness at age four and he was diagnosed with a fatal cardiac condition. These circumstances and his fear of the Curse of the Ninth have helped his Ninth to be associated with "farewell" and "death." One of the work's features is the abundance of musical quotations from works by Mahler and others, which supplies this rich symphony with a multilayered linkage of meanings.
The four movements form the untraditional tempo scheme slow-fast-fast-slow. The mighty first movement has a short introduction where cellos and a horn give the arrhythmical rhythmic motif which would return throughout the work. Soon afterwards the second violins introduce the main theme with a short-winded descending motif. Mahler self-quotes this motif from his song Der Abschied (The Farewell) from Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth). It is also thought to have a relation to Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 26 Das Lebewohl (The Farewell).
The second movement alternates three dances. The opening one is a "ländler," a Bavarian and Austrian rural dance. Headed “very defiant,” the third movement is a musical burlesque full of sarcastic vociferance. The final movement starts with the grievous unison theme on violins, suggestive of the slow movement of Bruckner’s Ninth. Towards the end, we hear the melody of Mahler's Nun will die Sonn' so hell aufgeh'n (Now Will the Sun Rise as Brightly) from the cycle Kindertotenlieder (Songs on the Death of Children). The elegiac finale is ended by only strings in whispers at lowest speed so the music is "dying away," as Mahler indicates.

[Kumiko Nishi]

Artists

Herbert Blomstedt ConductorHerbert Blomstedt

Born in 1927, now reaching his mid-nineties, Herbert Blomstedt is literally the conductor enjoying the strongest bond with the NHK Symphony Orchestra. Since their first collaboration in 1981, he has returned to the orchestra's podium frequently, with rarely longer than a two year interval. Needless to say, with a popular repertoire centered on the German and Austrian sphere, in recent years, he has actively been taking up works by Northern European composers (Grieg and Nielsen will be featured in Program B in October). The collaboration with the NHK Symphony Orchestra, as both sides deeply know each other's music, leaves a profound impression engraved in the hearts of audience, thus making a legendary performance each time they work together.
He was born to a minister father and a pianist mother, and started his career as a conductor in Northern Europe. As a devout Seventh-day Adventist and music missionary, he became Chief Conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden in 1975, a position which had remained vacant for years, and led the orchestra to build a golden age, and at the same time, his fame became known to the world. Disapproving of the former East German government's involvement in art, he assumed the position of Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra in 1985 (–1995), then led the NDR Sinfonieorchester (presently NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester) (1996–1998), and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig (1998–2005). After that, he has distanced himself from taking a fixed position, however, he has continued appearing with world’s most renowned orchestras including the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Wiener Philharmoniker. The NHK Symphony Orchestra awarded him the title of Honorary Conductor in 1986 and Honorary Conductor Laureate in 2016.

[Mitsunori Eto, music critic]

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Subscription Concerts 2022-2023
Program A

No. 1965 Subscription (Program A)

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