Gustav Mahler Research Centre

Workshop Mahler-Research with Tobias Janz (University of Bonn) and Christian Utz (University of
Music and Performing Arts Graz)

21–22 September 2022

Wednesday, 21/9/2022
Workshop I (Tobias Janz): Orchestration Analysis (Sixth Symphony, 1st movement)

The first workshop will focus on understanding Mahler’s orchestral composition from the perspective
of orchestral/symphonic sound. Approaches to the analysis of orchestration and orchestral sound,
which I have developed in the study of Richard Wagner’s music, will be applied to the musical
language of Gustav Mahler.

The first movement of Mahler's Sixth Symphony (1903) serves as a case study. On the one hand, the
Sixth Symphony can be seen as representative of the Mahler of the middle period of the purely
instrumental symphonies, which differ in their facture both from the early symphonies and from the
vocal-instrumental works generally. On the other hand, the Sixth Symphony is unique, also with
respect to the orchestration. The goal will be to develop approaches to understanding the sonic
characteristics of the movement and its form, as well as the orchestral techniques that these are
based on, through shared practical exercises.

14.00–16.00

We begin with a few preliminary methodological considerations in order to establish the perspective
required for the topic of orchestration and sound. This involves questions about the relationship
between sound and structure, sound and form, as well as some historical aspects of instrumentation
history and theory.

The first exercise session will consist of comparative analyses. Relevant points of comparison are
(among many possible) Bruckner’s 6th Symphony (1879–81), which Gustav Mahler performed for the
first time in 1899 in its four-movement form, and the symphonic poems of his generational fellow
Richard Strauss, especially Don Quixote (1896/97) and Ein Heldenleben (1897/98). On the basis of
selected passages and specific symphonic situations, a first understanding of commonalities and
peculiarities will be elaborated.

16.30–18.00

The second exercise unit is devoted to the movement as a whole and attempts to understand its
formal structure as a sonorous development.

Preparation for Workshop:

Please prepare yourself with scores and especially by listening to the pieces of music treated. A thorough
reading of the literature on Mahler’s orchestration is not necessary, as the workshop aims to focus on
exercising with the musical object, not on a challenging assessment of the many debates about Mahler’s tone,
the many biographical sources, and also not on the genesis and performance history of the Sixth Symphony.

Please bring scores (digital or printed) with you to Toblach!

Reference recordings I am preparing with are the recent recordings of the 6th Symphony with Kirill Petrenko
(BPO), of Bruckner's 6th Symphony with Mariss Jansons (BPO) and Andris Nelsons (Gewandhaus Orchestra) for
Strauss.
Thursday, 22/9/2022

Workshop II (Christian Utz): Performance Analysis (Seventh Symphony, 1st movement)

This workshop will focus on methods of using systematic comparisons between different Mahler
recordings for analytical purposes. The aim is to provide insight into musicological research using
audio sources and to motivate participants to develop their own ideas for research methods that
integrate written and audio material.

The basis of the discussion are research data generated in the Graz-based research project Multiple
Dimensions in Performances of Mahler’s Symphonies (MMD) (https://institut1.kug.ac.at/mahler). In
this project a large number of recordings of Mahler’s symphonies no. 2, 7, and 9 have been analyzed,
with a main focus on duration and tempo. As a case study for this workshop the first movement of
the Seventh Symphony (1904–1905, VII-1) has been selected. The Graz research team has analyzed
96 different recordings of this movement (1950–2019), following a detailed perception-sensitive
segmentational analysis.

10.00–12.00

The first workshop session will consist of a discussion of the movement’s form with a special
emphasis on tempo and orchestration. In connection to Tobias Janz’s workshop we will try to isolate
important “markers” in the musical process on the levels of tempo, orchestration/timbre, dynamics,
and character in the different sections of the movement. Conflicting ideas from the literature and
contrary “sounded readings” in the recordings can be highlighted and explored. We will also consult
different graphic representations of MMD research data to get an idea of the range of tempi realized
in all 96 recordings.

From this we shall derive two or three different research questions concerning the relationship of
written and auditive sources that will be worked on in the afternoon session.

13.30–15.00

During this session the research questions worked out in the morning session will be tackled,
hopefully including tentative practical work with recordings and/or research data.

online workshop material

–VII-1_Analysen.xlsx (segmentational analysis and duration/tempo data of 96 recordings)
–VII-1_analyses (Specht, Bekker, Swarowsky, Williamson, Floros, Stoll-Knecht)
–VII-1_recordings (Scherchen 1965, Bernstein 1965, Klemperer 1968, Swarowsky 1971b, Gielen 1993a)
–VII-1_scores and autograph

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/zrvi5hodql42tro/AACabl_6lOmcLAApeHOg6vfja?dl=0

Preparation for Workshop:

–Please bring along your laptop and headphones and install the most recent version of Sonic Visualiser
(https://www.sonicvisualiser.org/download.html) and VAMP PlugIns (https://www.vamp-
plugins.org/pack.html). It will also be useful to have more recent Office version installed for the work in Excel.
–Please bring along a printed score of VII-1 or print out the movement from the file
“Mahler_Symphony_No_7(NKG_2012_pocket score).pdf” in a readable format.
–Please listen to at least one of the five provided recordings carefully. You might want to consult the six
provided analytical texts before or after listening. Try to make your own segmentational analysis before
consulting the document “VII-1_Analysen.xlsx”.
–Try to formulate some questions or theses on the relationship between score/analysis and sound
result/recordings. You may want to consult some of the other provided recordings.