If you ask a typical assortment of orchestral musicians which Beethoven or Mahler symphony is their favorite, the answer might surprise you! We’ll all pay lip service to (in the case of Beethoven) Nos. 3, 5, 7, and 9. Mahler might get nods for Nos. 1, 2, 5, and 9. But most musicians, either through the over-programming of the odd-numbered symphonies find the joys in the paths less travelled by.

The fourth symphonies of each composer are a prime example. I was thinking about this as I was writing this post in mid-April, right before the Oregon Symphony was beginning rehearsals on Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4. Beethoven’s fourth is a piece that is as normal as ‘normal’ gets (and Beethoven is definitely not known for normal). It has the Classical requisite four movements, excellent construction, standard movement forms, and no external programmatic stuff to intrude on the absolute quality of the music. It also comes between the two iconic symphonies No. 3, which takes the symphonic form and makes it into an ode to a ideal of a Romantic leader, and No. 5 which takes the idea of rhythm as the basis of symphonic construction to the nth degree.

When one considers the symphonies of Gustav Mahler, his Fourth Symphony follows a similar pattern. It can comfortably be performed in under an hour (rare for a Mahler symphony). While it uses melodies from his song cycle Des Knaben Wunderhorn, it is not an explicitly programmatic work - instead he takes these songs and very intricately and beautifully weaves them into a symphonic form that Beethoven and Schubert (and Haydn and Mozart) would have no difficulty relating to. So we get a four movement form, tight construction with pretty standard forms, and not much in the way of programmatic content that seem to otherwise haunt all of his symphonies.

Many people love the last movement, which is a song that was originally intended to be placed in the third symphony but was taken out to be used on its own in the fourth. And there is a lot to love about this movement. The soprano sings of a child’s innocent view of what heaven must be like (without the consequence of how one arrives there), and it is a transcendent movement, to be sure. I, however, love the third movement most of all. It is perhaps my favorite of all the Mahler slow movements. There is nothing to want for - all of the pathos and beauty that one would want is present, but with little of the neuroses that can plague his other slow movements.

45^th Parallel Universe is performing the Fourth Symphony in a reduced chamber version arranged by Klaus Simon, an arrangement made for a concert program given by the Freiburg chamber orchestra Holst Sinfonietta in May 2007. Mahler’s works greatly benefit from the intimate intensity which these arrangements engender - which we all experienced with our 2024 performance of Mahler’s Das Lied von Der Erde. We’ll be joined by the incomparable soprano Madeline Ross for the performance, and we hope that you’ll join us for a truly memorable experience!

Charles Noble
Violist, Pyxis Quartet
Assistant Principal Viola, Oregon Symphony