Mahler's 7th Symphony

[Herodotas]

Am going to a concert to hear this played by the Bournemouth SO next month and have bought Bernstein's CD...also listened to Haitink. Am starting to get a sense of its form - the nachtmusik movements embraced by the large outer ones with the scherzo in between. But my CD has no notes of any use. Can someone tell me what I should be getting from listening to this symphony. Why does Mahler allude to his 5th Symphony - I think in the second movement? Am enjoying the rich orchestration and unusual sounds - of cowbells, guitar and mandolin - but what does it all signify?

[ImmortalBeloved]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._7_(Mahler) (Click on the Did you mean...link)

The above may be of some help to you.

I have Lorin Maazel's recording of this symphony. It's a fine interpretation IMO.

[Herodotas]

Thanks. I misremembered: the reference to his 5th symphony is apparently in the 4th movement. I shall have to listen to it again!

[autolycus]

Herodatus.
I never think in terms of what anyone should get from any work.
M7 was the first Mahler I ever heard, and I was immediately attracted to the ringing brass tune after the drum solo at the start of the finale.
I now love the wonderful sound world of the first movement; it has a unique 'taste'. The interlude accompanied by cow-bells, sounding so otherworldly, and evocative of mountain heights, is beautiful.
The famous [from a U.K. TV ad.] march tune at the start of the second movement is lovely. The flitting 3rd and the romantic 4th, those are qualities of those movements. The last is a riot, highly parodistic, even of the rondo form [A-B-A-C-A-D-A], and ends with the most joyous music Mahler ever wrote.
The orchestration throughout is pretty unusual.

And how you find it and what you find depends on who you are.
"As within, so without."

[Delicious Manager]

I hope you enjoy the concert (which, being a Thursday, should be tonight!). My very first job as a manager after leaving college was as Concerts Officer with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (and Bournemouth Sinfonietta) in the early 1980s. I was a local boy too and lived in Bournemouth and Poole between 1970 and 1982.

Get from the piece whatever is communicates to you. There is no piece ever written where you are 'supposed' to get something specific from it.