When words fail, music begins. Three musical visions of heaven from the sound of moonlight to Mahler’s wide-eyed unveiling of paradise in his Fourth Symphony.
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Sometimes words fail, and that’s where this concert begins, with instrumental moments from Strauss’s musical “conversation piece”, Capriccio – a prelude for just six players and a glimpse of moonlight in a delicate intermezzo. The heavenly image is sustained in the clarinet concerto, with the mellow purity of the instrument that Mozart taught to sing.
We’d guess that Mahler’s Fourth Symphony is the ‘first’ Mahler symphony for many music-lovers – it’s the shortest and the most candid, and you can’t help but be won over by its singing optimism and dancing innocence. Even the “dance of death” for a devilish violin doesn’t spoil its beauty. Then in its charming finale, soprano Emma Matthews unveils a child’s vision of heaven – “hung with violins!”
R STRAUSS Capriccio: Prelude and
Moonlight Music
MOZART Clarinet Concerto
MAHLER Symphony No.4
Vladimir Ashkenazy conductor
Emma Matthews soprano
Dimitri Ashkenazy clarinet
AUDIO PLAYER LISTING
Track 1 – R STRAUSS Capriccio: Moonlight Music
Vienna Philharmonic conducted by André Previn
DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 437 7902
Tracks 2 and 3 – MOZART Clarinet Concerto
Gervase de Peyer, clarinet, with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Peter Maag
DECCA 476 7404
Track 4 – MAHLER Symphony No.4: 1st movement
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Rafael Kubelik
Audio kindly supplied by Universal Music
Currently available for purchase:
Strauss
Mozart
Mahler