Mahler: "Urlicht" (Symphony No.2, 4th movement)

[reinholdbehringer]

On 18.May 1911, exactly 100 years ago, Gustav Mahler died. I was wondering how I could pay tribute to this composer on this anniversary, and in the evening shortly after 8pm I began working on the "Urlicht".

7 hours later the rendition was finished.

The result is here: http://www.virtualphilharmonic.co.uk/Mahler_S2M4.php

I hope you Mahlerians like it! And those who think that one cannot play Mahler's music with GPO, please point out exactly what the shortcomings are. I think that it is possible to create Mahler's music with GPO4, one just has to do a little tinkering and has to cautiously use the samples.

btw, the final version of my rendition of Mahler's Symphony No.1 is ready. I had posted it last year at the 150th birthday of Gustav, but in the meantime I did a few changes. Especially I recorded the "Blumine" movement with a live trumpet player, mixed into the rest of the GPO:
http://www.virtualphilharmonic.co.uk/Mahler_S1.php
and here http://www.virtualphilharmonic.co.uk...fLonelyOne.php

[Michael A. Wiktor]

"...Wiktor's a Jekyll-Hyde personality..." - Lycos Music
http://www.miserymadebeautiful.com

[reinholdbehringer]

Hi Michael,

thanks for your comment - I am glad you like it.
As it happens, just a few hours earlier I created a new version of "Urlicht" - here is the "song" page:
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...ongID=10662344

[Styxx]

Bravo! That's it ... Bravo!!!

[rbowser-]

Reinhold, I have no idea how you managed to produce this in a mere 7 hours - ?!-- I've never attempted something like what you've done, but based on how long it takes me to produce Anything, I know it would take me at least several weeks non-stop.

It's a beautiful rendition, and you certainly proved, at the very least, your point that Mahler can be done justice with GPO.

Thank you for this. The brief story about its creation and what motivated you to do it is very touching, and your results are magical.

Randy

[reinholdbehringer]

Hi Randy,

thank you very much for your kind comments!
Yep, this was done in 7 hours, but the revisions for version 1.1 took another 7 hours.

This is fortunately a short piece, with very sparse notation. In contrast, Mahler's 4th movement from Symphony #1 took me 4 weeks. The work on these renditions is accelerated by me playing live whenever possible. I start usually with the bass, then go voice by voice up in the score until the flutes. Then, in a second round, I add the expression voice by voice, nowadays also live through the mod wheel.

The upcoming work on the 1st and 5th movements of this Symphony No.2 will take much longer than 7 hours, I guarantee!
Maybe I should instead begin with the 4th....
But eventually I want to create renditions of all of Mahler's symphonies.