Mahler 2nd

This morning (20:00 Berlin time) we listened to the Berliner Philharmoniker's performance of the Second Symphony of Mahler, the famous "Resurrection" Symphony. This is my favorite of all Mahler's Symphonies (hint: my nom de blog has something to do with it :-). It was a peculiar performance, in that it was preceded by a piece by Schoenberg, Survivor from Warsaw, which led into the beginning of the Mahler without a pause.

Anyway, it was a fine performance, and I enjoyed it as always. The climax near the end of the fifth movement was moving. I caught a little bit of the introductory speech before the performance just as the narrator said something about a short section of the fifth movement where the chorus first entered. He said that the string and the trombone were optional; they were there for the purpose of helping the chorus not to lose pitch. Ideally, it should be a cappella; thus if the chorus is able to uphold its pitch, the strings and trombone should not play with the chorus.

At first I thought that was something made up. Being curious about such little bits and having my score in hand (rehearsal number 31-32 in the Dover edition, p.354-355; the 5-measure parts of strings and trombome, from 2 measures before 32 to 3 after), I was delighted to discover that apparently it was indeed the composer's intention:

NB. An dieser Stelle wirken die Posaunen, Violinen und Viol. nur im Notfalle mit, wenn es gilt den Chor vor "Fallen" zu bewahren.