In the Eighth
Symphony, the instruments of percussion form a little band by
themselves. And he utilized the common instruments in original fashion,
made the harps imitate bells, the wood-wind blow fanfares, the horns
hold organ-points; combined piccolos with bassoons and contrabasses,
wrote unisons for eight horns, let the trombones run scales----
But there is not one of poor Mahler's nine symphonies, honest and
dignified as some of them are, that exists as fresh, new-minted, vivid
music. His genius never took musical flesh. His scores are lamentably
weak, often arid and banal. There is surely not another case in musical
history in which indubitable genius, a mighty need of expression, a
distinctly personal manner of sensation, a respectable musical science,
a great and idealistic effort, achieved results so unsatisfactory. One
wonders whether Mahler the composer was not, after all, the greatest
failure in music. If there is any music that is eminently
Kapellmeistermusik, eminently a routine, reflective, dusty sort of
musical art, it is certainly Mahler's five latter symphonies. The
musical Desert of Sahara is surely to be found in these unhappy
compositions. They are monsters of ennui, and by their very
pretentiousness, their gargantuan dimensions, throw into cruelest relief
Mahler's essential sterility.
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