Mahler / Sampson / Vanska

Symphony 4 Mahler / Sampson / Vanska

In Gustav Mahler's first four symphonies many of the themes originate in his own settings of folk poems from the collection Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Boy's Magic Horn). A case in point, Symphony No. 4 is built around a single song, Das himmlische Leben (The Heavenly Life) which Mahler had composed some eight years earlier, in 1892. The song presents a child's vision of Heaven and is hinted at throughout the first three movements. In the fourth, marked 'Sehr behaglich' (Very comfortably), the song is heard in full from a solo soprano instructed by Mahler to sing: 'with serene, childlike expression; completely without parody!'

The symphony is scored for a typically large, lateromantic orchestra (though without trombones and tuba) and an extensive percussion section which includes sleigh bells as well as glockenspiel.