The longest and the 2nd best symphony of all time: Mahler’s 3rd Symphony
Hello, welcome to another one of my music reviews !
First, if you haven’t done so, take a look at my My Favorite Classical Music Pieces of All time article.
Now I’ll cover a grandiose work, premiered in 1902, one of the most ground breaking symphonies of the late romantic- early modern era.
Symphony No. 3 in D minor, Gustav Mahler
Composed: 1896 | Premiere: 1902, Krefeld/Germany, conducted by the composer | Movements: 6 | Length: 110 minutes
Favorite recordings:
With a length of 110 minutes, the 3rd Symphony is the longest symphony in in the standard repertoire*. It has 6 movements 4 of which are instrumental. The 4th movement has an Alto soloist. The 5th movement has an also soloist, woman’s chorus and children’s chorus !
Standard repertoire refers to the classical works that are frequently performed by modern orchestras. Adding this disclaimer is necessary, otherwise the record may go to 4+ hour nonsense works that are intentionally made to be long but not appreciated or performed.
After seeing the “2nd best symphony” in the title, could you guess the 1st one ?
…Surprises♨️♨️… Of course it is the Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, which will probably remain the best piece of music ever produced by mankind until end of time (or until I compose my 1st symphony 😜). Actually when taking into account all 9 symphonies of each composer, I consider Mahler the greatest symphonist ever as the scale of his symphonies even exceed Beethovens’ . Though Beethoven remains by favorite composer overall thanks to his brilliant works in other genres (violin concertos, piano concertos, string quartets etc.). I covered the 9th symphony in detail in my previous article.
Orchestration
Just like all of Mahler’s symphonies, the 3rd symphony is performed by an extravagant orchestra. He went as far as doubling some instruments in movements 1,3 and 5 , a level of obsessive detail that we tiny mortals can’t comprehend.
To give you a reference point, here is orchestration of the Mozart’s famous 40th Symphony 😁
The 3rd Symphony is a programatic work with explanations given by the composer. Here is the program of the symphony
Programmatic music: A classical work is considered programmatic if there are direct explanations or instructions about the music by the composer. In the Beethoven’s 6th symphony “Pastoral” for example, Beethoven shared a storyline such as one movement corresponding to thunderstorm.
Movement 1:
Length: 33:35 (Lengths may vary on each performance, I took the Apple Music recording as the reference)
Theme: “Pan Awakes, Summer Marches In”
Tempo: Kräftig. Entschieden (Strong and decisive)
Movement 2:
Length: 09:58
Theme: “What the Flowers in the Meadow Tell Me”
Tempo: Tempo di Menuetto Sehr mässig (In the tempo of a minuet, very moderate)
Movement 3:
Length: 17:48
Theme: “What the Animals in the Forest Tell Me”
Tempo: Comodo (Scherzando) Ohne Hast (Comfortable (Scherzo), without haste)
Movement 4:
Length: 09:18
Theme: “What Man Tells Me”
Tempo: Sehr langsam — Misterioso (Very slowly, mysteriously)
Movement 5:
Length: 04:19
Theme: “What the Angels Tell Me”
Tempo: Lustig im Tempo und keck im Ausdruck (Cheerful in tempo and cheeky in expression)
Movement 6:
Length: 24:24
Theme: “What Love Tells Me”
Tempo: Langsam — Ruhevoll — Empfunden (Slowly, tranquil, deeply felt)
What the hell 🤔??
I can already see that you are extremely confused, and we’re just getting started. Gustav Mahler’s symphonies are often extravagant in content and detail but this why we love him so much . Mahler’s symphonies often require multiple listens to understand what is going on. I recommend you take give his works multiple changes (I will get to how to listen to it later)
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler is a Jewish-German composer lived between 1860 and 1911. During his lifetime he was very popular as a conductor but his compositions were mostly disliked and neglected. Until 1940s his works were censured by the Nazis, due to his Jewish origins, but after 1950s his compositions were rediscovered and he is now one of the most frequently performed classical composers.
As you can see, Mahler only composed 21 works (1 unfinished) in his lifetime. This is surprising low compared to other composers (Beethoven: 138, Mozart: 626, Haydn: 1080). Mahler is probably the composer with the lowest composition count (again, among “popular” composers, otherwise there are composers with 1 or 0 works 😅)
Here are some of the characteristics of the Mahler’s music:
- Almost all of his major works are symphonies. Mahler, a successful conductor of his time, embraced the symphony genre as he was often conducting his, Beethoven’s and Wagner’s works with his orchestra.
- His works are extremely long, sophisticated and rich in detail. Mahler himself said: “A symphony must be like life, it should contain everything”. He took the quality > quantity approach to the extreme (like my software😎)
- His symphonies are often thematic and programmatic. After an era of themeless symphonies of Mozart and Haydn, Beethoven revolutionised the music by symphonies like Eroica (3rd) and Pastoral (6th). Mahler took this even further, here are the themes of his symphonies:
- 1st: Nicknamed “Titan”, this is the most conventional symphony of Mahler. Though we can already start to see some craziness in the famous 3rd movement Trauermarsch (Funeral March)
- 2st: “Resurrection”, a showcase of Mahler’s obsession with death and coming back to life. Must listen
- 3rd: Nature, or love ? We’ll cover it 😀
- 4st: The Heaven
- 5st: Quite complex, starts with a funeral march, then a love letter to his wife Alma (famous Adagietto) and ends with an enthusiastic finale.
- 6st: “Tragic”, this symphony uses hammer as an instrument. The three hammer blows in the final movement symbolizes three blows of fate to a hero “the third of which fells him like a tree”.
Edit: Check this 😉:
- 7st: I still don’t understand, if you do let me know 🤔.
- 8st: “Symphony of a Thousand”, the creation and the God, but this also gets quite philosophical with Goethe’s Faust in the 2nd movement
- 9st: Death, farewell to life, and anger after founding that his wife Alma was cheating him 🥲.
- 10th: Unfinished, he went even deeper on the agony theme of the 9th. I haven’t listened to it yet.
- As you saw, his themes were quite philosophical and complex. Mahler had a lifelong obsession with death which is deeply reflected on his music.
- He is known for extraordinary orchestral arrangements and use of unconventional instruments (hammer ? celestia ? rite?). His 8th symphony (such an epic one!), known as “Symphony of a Thousand”, requires over 1000 performers. Mahler is also known to be very perfectionist and picky, often insulting performers when the music is not on par with what’s on his mind
- Structure of his works are very complex, unconventional and brain-burning. He uses “strategic ambiguity” (a term used by the US army 😀) in his music. Instead of expressing a theme or melody directly, he displays them in complex (and sometimes almost nonsense) manner. So when you’re thinking that you’re listening to a happy theme about Heaven, you might find yourself at the depths of the Hell. The “ambiguity” also allows the listener to create their own storyline with their imagination.
- As such, his music is often hard to listen and comprehend, but is also very special and rewarding. Things in his music often can’t be found in anywhere else. Mahler is certainly an acquired taste, some people never like his music but those who like are often extremely enthusiastic (almost like Metallica etc. fanboys😀) about him.
Back to the Symphony No 3
Mahler’s 3rd symphony has 6 movements. Let’s recall the themes of the movements:
- “Pan Awakes, Summer Marches In”
- “What the Flowers in the Meadow Tell Me”
- “What the Animals in the Forest Tell Me”
- “What Man Tells Me”
- “What the Angels Tell Me”
- “What Love Tells Me”
Pan: the God of the Wild in the Greek mythology
As you can see, the symphony starts with a nature but gets more and more abstract and ends with the love. Putting love at the last movement , Mahler is emphasizing that love is more important than anything else ❤️
Now I’ll start analyzing the movements. Note that this is my imagination the Symphony is quite open to subjective interpolation. So there is a high chance that other reviewers (and you) will develop a totally different storyline in your mind. I mean, the final movement of the 4th Symphony is titled Das Himmlische Leben (the Heavenly Life) directly by Mahler but I read a Reddit post about how it actually tells the Hell, so with Mahler everything is possible 😅 BTW in my mind, that movement is symbolizing a loved one as an unreachable desire, using Heaven not as the primary subject but as a metaphor. Okay, at this point I must review the 4th too, so follow me to stay tuned 😉.
Gustav Mahler Symphony No 3, 1st Movement
I’ll use the Youtube recording for timestamps, though I recommend the Apple Music one I shared as its quality is better.
Mahler said that “A symphony must be like the world. It must contain everything.” And the 1st movement is already a colossal one that could be a symphony at its own.
With its length of 33 minutes, this movement incorporates almost everything. The French horns start a dark entrance and first minutes are dramatic. Though later, the theme gets more cheerful, accommodating the “Summer Marches In” theme.
Summer was Mahler’s favorite season. He was quite busy with his conductor job at the Vienna State Opera, and in summer breaks he was traveling to his “composing huts” where he composed most of this music.
The movement visits so many different themes and emotions that it is not possible list all of them here. The string scherzo around the 21:10 is absolutely breathtaking. Towards the end, the main theme reaches an happy climax, I love listening to that part when I want quick goosebumps.
I often listen to this movement at its own, as it is basically a symphony (actually longer in terms of length and content than some full symphonies)
2nd Movement
The 2nd movement is quite beautiful and emotional. It is probably one of the most accesible movements of Mahler that almost anyone would like it at first listen. The melody is relatively straightforward and elegant. This movement is a nice place to shelter before the storm which will just start 😀. And the violin at the very end of the movemet… so elegant isn’t it.
3rd Movement
The movement also starts with a calm melody, but things will quickly get very weird… In the first minutes there are fun and playful melodies.
Starting from 51:30, we get to see one of the most interesting themes in a symphony. The dramatic horn section is breathtaking and almost like a modern movie soundtrack. I haven’t seen something like this in any classical work (I will repeat this many times during this review 😅) . At 1:03:19 the movement reaches an epic climax with trombones.
This movement is quite strange yet very fun the listen. It visits many themes though I haven’t been able to exactly understand the connection with the “What the Animals in the Forest Tell Me” , the title given by the composer 🤔
A photo from his composing hut, now a museum. You can have a 360° tour here: https://www.360perspektiven.com/projekte/attersee_update2022/?startscene=183&startactions=lookat(-382.75,16.49,110,0,0);
4th Movement
Do I need to tell you things will get even more weird 😁
Having the tempo marking of Sehr langsam — Misterioso (Very slowly, mysteriously), the movement is indeed very mysterious from the start.
In this movement, we have an alto soloists, singing “The Midnight Song” section from the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra (in Turkish: Böyle Buyurdu Zerdüşt) book.
It is crazy, isn’t it ? The movement is an absolute masterpiece. Again like a movie soundtrack, it is such a pleasure to listen to this. Though in some recording the alto solo isn’t heard very well (probably due to poor recording), the two recordings I shared are quite good 👍
I don’t remember any other classical piece incorparating a text from philosophical book, this is already a revolution in art.
Here are the lyrics and the English translation:
O Mensch! Gib Acht!
Was spricht die tiefe Mitternacht?
“Ich schlief, ich schlief — ,
aus tiefem Traum bin ich erwacht: —
Die Welt ist tief,
und tiefer als der Tag gedacht.
Tief ist ihr Weh — ,
Lust — tiefer noch als Herzeleid.
Weh spricht: Vergeh!
Doch all’ Lust will Ewigkeit — ,
— will tiefe, tiefe Ewigkeit!”O Man! Take heed!
What says the deep midnight?
“I slept, I slept — ,
from a deep dream have I awoken: —
the world is deep,
and deeper than the day has thought.
Deep is its pain — ,
joy — deeper still than heartache.
Pain says: Pass away!
But all joy seeks eternity — ,
— seeks deep, deep eternity!”
Now take a look at the movement’s title, “What Man Tells Me” . Given the dark lyrics, and the previous two movements about “What flowers tell me” “What animals tell me” were more cheerful, I reach to a conclusion here: Mahler is stating that he isn’t having a good time with people and he loves nature much more. While he was composing music in his countryside hut he was ceasing contact with all people, including his wife, and he is expressing his thought world to us with music 😮
5th Movement
Okay, this movement is absolutely INSANE !
It is certainly nothing like you’ve ever heard before. Only 4 minutes long, this movement is cheerful song sung by Alto soloist, woman’s chorus and children’s chorus.
The song comes from the Es sungen drei Engel (Three Angels were singing) from Mahler’s Das Knaben Wunderhorn song collection. The original text of the song is loosely based on a 17th-century German church hymn.
This movement is so interesting and catch to listen, sometimes it gets addicting and I listen to it 5 times in a row. It blends fun childish melodies with dramatic climaxes by the Alto.
Here are the full lyrics and the English translation
I also find it quite fascinating that the previous movement had a poem from Nietzsche, a well known opposer to Christianity, and a religious song in the follow-up movement. This was certainly a delibrate choice by Mahler which we will also see in his 8th Symphony, having Latin hymn “Veni Creator Spiritus” and Goethe’s secular work “Faust” following it.
6th Movement
In the final movement of the symphony and we’re back to purely instrumental. To recall what this movement is about:
Theme: “What Love Tells Me”
Tempo: Langsam — Ruhevoll — Empfunden (Slowly, tranquil, deeply felt)
The movement is indeed very slow, which is not something we often see in the finales. Despite its slow tempo, it is full of musical wonders and emotions.
This movement also reminds movie soundtracks to some extend, but probably too complicated to use as a soundtrack or background music for something.
And the climax… The climax starting from 1:42:00 to the end is crazily good. The violins… the horns… the timpani strikes. It is one of the best instrumental climaxes of all time, whose effect is amplified by the general slow pace of the movement. Mahler was an absolute genius…
You need to give multiple tries to this magnificent monstrosity. After the first listen I thought that this movement was a total nonsense. Then “I get something but it is too long and boring”. Then finally it started to “click” and I started to enjoy it. At fourth listen or so I remember that I cried . This movement is certainly one of the most difficult yet astonishing pieces of the classical music.
Summary
We covered Gustav Mahler and his colossal 3rd Symphony which I consider two 2nd best Symphony of all time.
Mahler’s 3rd Symphony is one of the complex works of the classical repertoire and not something I recommend to a classical beginner. But of course, there are no certain rules in music, and is totally possible for a newbie to listen to this piece and fully comprehend & enjoy it.
How should you listen to it ? I first fully listened to the symphony and didn’t understand much (actually come close to opening a Reddit post in r/classicalmusic about how boring it is! 🤫) Though the catchy vocals of the 4th-5th movement stuck to my minding I started listening to them on repeat. Afterwards I did focused listens of the 2nd- 3rd -1st and 6th movements, in order to understand and love them. Nowadays I treat the symphony in two parts (1–2 and 3–4–5–6) and listen to one part, on rare occurencies I listen to the full symphony at once.
Thanks for reading, see you in another article!
