Half Six Fix: Mahler 4
Sir Simon Rattle and Lucy Crowe
Wednesday 20 May 2026 6.30pm
Photo by Moritz Nähr
Photo by Moritz Nähr
Gustav Mahler
Born: 1860, Kaliště, Bohemia
Died: 1911, Vienna
More than any composer since Beethoven, Gustav Mahler radically altered the course of symphonic form, broadening its scale and instrumentation. He infused it with vast emotional range and incorporated autobiographical references: never before had a composer written themselves so indelibly into their works.
Born in Bohemia, he went to study in Vienna at the age of 15, before developing a conducting career in a succession of opera theatres. In 1897, he became Kapellmeister at the Vienna Court Opera, converting from Judaism to Catholicism in order to do so. The demands of his conducting commitments left only the summers for composing, when he would retreat to the mountains and lakes.
He was heavily drawn to the folk-like poetry collection Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Youth’s Magic Horn), writing over 20 Wunderhorn songs and incorporating some into his Symphonies Nos 2, 3 and 4. The Sixth Symphony (known as the ‘Tragic’) references a triple-blow of distressing life events, while the massive Eighth is known as the ‘Symphony of a Thousand’.
Five of Mahler’s siblings died in infancy, as did his own elder daughter – lending further poignancy to his Kindertotenlieder (Songs on the Death of Children). From 1907, he worked in New York at the Metropolitan Opera and Philharmonic Orchestra but fell victim to heart disease. Though hugely influential as an opera conductor, he never considered writing one of his own.
Symphony No 4 in G major
Gustav Mahler
Sir Simon Rattle conductor and presenter
Lucy Crowe soprano
London Symphony Orchestra
✒️1899–1901 | ⏰ 60 minutes
1 Bedächtig, nicht eilen (Deliberate, unhurried)
2 In gemächlicher Bewegung, ohne Hast (Moving comfortably, unhurried)
3 Ruhevoll, poco adagio (Calm, somewhat slowly)
4 Sehr behaglich (At ease)
What is the story?
In recent decades, the symphonies of Mahler have become the benchmark on which orchestras and conductors are judged. It’s partly to do with the kaleidoscopic philosophical and expressive range driven by his all-embracing outlook. The symphony, Mahler famously said, had to ‘be like the world. It must embrace everything’. In line with this belief, his symphonies are strewn with references to nature and death (and the beyond) but also with everyday sounds such as folk music, military fanfares or marching bands.
For tonight’s conductor, Sir Simon Rattle, it was hearing a performance of Mahler’s Second Symphony that made him want to conduct. ‘It simply changed my life’, Rattle has said.
What makes it so special?
Mahler’s Second and Third Symphonies were monumental works calling for extravagantly large orchestras as well as solo voices and choirs. At ‘only’ around an hour in length, Mahler’s Fourth is comparatively bijou and more Classical in style. Despite being perhaps the most accessible of Mahler’s symphonies, it seemed to challenge critics at the time. The review in New York’s Musical Courier after the work’s first US outing, in 1904, was not a lone voice: ‘There is nothing in the design, content or execution of the work to impress the musician, except its grotesquerie'.
As in two previous symphonies, Mahler in his Fourth turned to one of his earlier songs on texts from Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Youth’s Magic Horn), the folk-poetry collection that was popular among German Romantics. Das himmlische Leben (Heavenly Life), became the symphony’s finale. It presents an idyllic, child’s-eye view of heaven, where there is dance and song, free-flowing wine, an abundance of fresh produce and unearthly music overseen by Saint Cecilia.
What’s the music like?
The element of childlike simplicity in the finale also appears in the Fourth Symphony’s first movement, with its sleigh-bell opening, its carefree, often lyrical, themes and its tendency to dart from one idea to another. After a high, whistling theme on flutes, the music becomes streaked with darker visions. All this eventually relaxes in a blissful reverie. The movement’s first theme slowly emerges again and gathers pace towards a pithy, almost perfunctory end.
Mahler originally titled the second movement ‘Death strikes up the dance for us’. A slow-whirling Ländler (a rustic version of the waltz) brings a macabre solo on a violin whose four strings are tuned a tone higher than usual. A more relaxed episode, with fluttering wind instruments, twice alternates with the Ländler.
The slow movement is every bit as beautiful as its better known counterpart in the Fifth Symphony. Its broadly arching first theme is buoyed by a gentle plucked tread that somehow both marks time and suspends it. A second theme is more troubled, and a range of emotional ground is covered in various guises of the first theme. In the climactic outburst near the end, horns briefly foreshadow the opening theme of the finale, but the ending brings a sense of spiritual or physical transfiguration, and the violins rise celestially.
Then comes the child’s view of heaven, ‘to be sung’, Mahler directs, ‘in a happy childlike manner: absolutely without parody’. But, as ever with Mahler, there’s a dark undercurrent – expressing the realities of a lamb and the oxen slaughtered for food.
Das himmlische Leben
(The heavenly life): Finale
Text & Translation
Original Text:
Wir genießen die
himmlischen Freuden,
D'rum tun wir das
Irdische meiden.
Kein weltlich' Getümmel
Hört man nicht im Himmel!
Lebt alles in sanftester Ruh'.
Wir führen ein englisches Leben,
Sind dennoch ganz
lustig daneben;
Wir tanzen und springen,
Wir hüpfen und singen,
Sankt Peter im Himmel sieht zu.
Johannes das Lämmlein
auslasset,
Der Metzger Herodes
d'rauf passet.
Wir führen ein geduldig's,
Unschuldig's, geduldig's,
Ein liebliches Lämmlein zu Tod.
Sankt Lucas den Ochsen
tät schlachten
Ohn' einig's Bedenken
und Achten.
Der Wein kost' kein Heller
Im himmlischen Keller;
Die Englein, die backen das Brot.
Wir genießen die Gut' Kräuter
von allerhand Arten,
Die wachsen im
himmlischen Garten,
Gut' Spargel, Fisolen
Und was wir nur wollen.
Ganze Schüsseln voll
sind uns bereit!
Gut' Äpfel, gut' Birn'
und gut' Trauben;
Die Gärtner, die alles erlauben.
Willst Rehbock, willst Hasen,
Auf offener Straßen
Sie laufen herbei!
Sollt' ein Fasttag etwa kommen,
Alle Fische gleich mit Freuden
angeschwommen!
Dort läuft schon Sankt Peter
Mit Netz und mit Köder
Zum himmlischen Weiher hinein.
Sankt Martha die
Köchin muß sein.
Kein' Musik ist ja nicht auf Erden,
Die unsrer verglichen
kann werden.
Elftausend Jungfrauen
Zu tanzen sich trauen.
Sankt Ursula selbst dazu lacht.
Kein' Musik ist ja nicht auf Erden,
Die unsrer verglichen
kann werden.
Cäcilia mit ihren Verwandten
Sind treffliche Hofmusikanten!
Die englischen Stimmen
Ermuntern die Sinnen,
Daß alles für Freuden erwacht.
Translated Text :
We enjoy
heavenly pleasures,
and therefore avoid
earthly ones.
No worldly tumult
is to be heard in heaven!
All live in greatest peace.
We lead angelic lives,
yet have a merry time
of it besides;
We dance and we spring,
we skip and we sing,
Saint Peter in heaven looks on.
John lets the lambkin
out,
and Herod the Butcher
lies in wait for it.
We lead a patient,
an innocent, patient,
dear little lamb to its death.
Saint Luke slaughters the ox
without any thought
or concern.
Wine doesn't cost a penny
in the heavenly cellars;
The angels bake the bread.
Good greens of every sort
grow in the heavenly,
vegetable patch,
good asparagus,
string beans,
and whatever we want.
Whole dishfuls
are set for us!
Good apples, good pears
and good grapes;
and gardeners who
allow everything.
If you want roebuck or hare,
on the public streets
they come running right up!
Should a fast day come along,
all the fishes at once come
swimming with joy!
There goes Saint Peter running
with his net and his bait
to the heavenly pond.
Saint Martha
must be the cook.
There is just no music on earth
that can compare
to ours.
Even the eleven thousand virgins
venture to dance,
and Saint Ursula herself
has to laugh.
There is just no music on earth
that can compare to ours.
Cecilia and all her relations
make excellent court musicians!
The angelic voices
gladden our senses,
so that all awaken for joy.
Traditional text from Des Knaben Wunderhorn (1805–08), edited by Achim von Arnim and Clemens Brentano
Keep Listening
Delve deeper into the music featured in our Half Six Fix series, and find related music recommendations, with our Half Six Fix playlist.
Sir Simon Rattle
conductor and presenter
Sir Simon Rattle has an apparently insatiable appetite for music. Whether it’s early or modern, classical or jazz, concert or opera, he brings a freshness of approach to everything he does. This year marks his 50th anniversary as a professional conductor.
In the UK, he has worked extensively in early music (with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment) and in opera (with Glyndebourne Festival). For nearly two decades from 1980, he was at the helm of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, where he brought audiences a richly varied musical diet.
In 2002, he became the only British person to become Chief Conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, and from 2017–23 he was Music Director of the LSO, of which he is now our Conductor Emeritus. He is currently Chief Conductor of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor of the Czech Philharmonic, Honorary Conductor of the Staatskapelle Berlin and Principal Artist with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
The London Symphony Orchestra
At the London Symphony Orchestra, we believe that extraordinary music should be available to everyone, everywhere – from orchestral fans in the concert hall to first-time listeners all over the world.
The LSO was established in 1904 as one of the first orchestras shaped by its musicians. Since then, generations of remarkable talents have built our reputation for quality, ambition and a commitment to sharing the joy of music with everyone. We perform some 70 concerts every year as Resident Orchestra at the Barbican, with our family of artists: Chief Conductor Sir Antonio Pappano, Conductor Emeritus Sir Simon Rattle, Principal Guest Conductor Gianandrea Noseda and Associate Artists Barbara Hannigan and André J Thomas. We have major artistic residencies in Paris, Tokyo and at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, and tour regularly in Asia and the US.
Through LSO Discovery, our education and community programme, 60,000 people each year experience the transformative power of music. Our musicians are at the heart of this unique programme, leading workshops, mentoring bright young talent, and visiting schools, hospitals and community spaces. The home of much of this work is LSO St Luke’s, our venue on Old Street. Last year, following a programme of works, the LSO opened up the venue’s facilities to more people than ever before, with new state-of-the-art recording facilities and dedicated spaces for LSO Discovery.
Our record label, LSO Live, is a leader among orchestra-owned labels, bringing to life the excitement of a live performance. The catalogue of over 200 acclaimed recordings reflects the artistic priorities of the Orchestra – from popular new releases, such as Janáček’s Katya Kabanova with Sir Simon Rattle, to favourites like Vaughan Williams’ symphonies with Sir Antonio Pappano and Verdi’s Requiem with Gianandrea Noseda.
On Stage
Leader
Benjamin Marquise Gilmore
First Violins
Seohee Min
Clare Duckworth
Ginette Decuyper
Olatz Ruiz de Gordejuela
Maxine Kwok
William Melvin
Stefano Mengoli
Claire Parfitt
Elizabeth Pigram
Laurent Quénelle
Harriet Rayfield
Sylvain Vasseur
Shing-Hong Aries Chow*
Aaron You-Xin Li
Julia Rumley
Rhys Watkins
Second Violins
Julián Gil Rodríguez
Thomas Norris
Miya Väisänen
Matthew Gardner
Naoko Keatley
Belinda McFarlane
Iwona Muszynska
Csilla Pogány
Louise Shackelton
Eleanor Fagg
Juan Gonzalez Hernandez
Lyrit Milgram
Djumash Poulsen
Chelsea Sharpe
Violas
Eivind Ringstad
Malcolm Johnston
Anna Bastow
Julia O'Riordan
Thomas Beer
Sofia Silva Sousa
Robert Turner
Mizuho Ueyama
Michelle Bruil
Xinyuan He*
Jenny Lewisohn
Matthias Wiesner
David Vainsot
Cellos
David Cohen
Laure Le Dantec
Alastair Blayden
Salvador Bolón
Daniel Gardner
Amanda Truelove
Joanna Twaddle
Louise McMonagle
Jessica Schaefer
Raphaël Unger
Double Basses
Rodrigo Moro Martín
Mehdi Nejjoum-Barthélémy
Thomas Goodman
Joe Melvin
Jani Pensola
Will Priest
James Trowbridge
Adam Wynter
* LSO String Experience Scheme Member
Kindly supported by the Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust, the Idlewild Trust and The Thriplow Charitable Trust.
Concert generously supported by The Huo Family Foundation
Filmed for LSO Live
Flutes
Amy Yule
Gareth Davies
Imogen Royce
Piccolo
Patricia Moynihan
Oboes
Olivier Stankiewicz
Rosie Jenkins
Cor anglais
Maxwell Spiers
Clarinets
Chris Richards
Chi-Yu Mo
Bass Clarinet
Ferran Garcerà Perelló
Bassoons
Rachel Gough
Joost Bosdijk
Contrabassoon
Martin Field
Horns
Timothy Jones
Timothy Ellis
Angela Barnes
Tommaso Rusconi
Jonathan Maloney
Trumpets
James Fountain
Adam Wright
Katie Smith
Timpani
Nigel Thomas
Percussion
Neil Percy
David Jackson
Sam Walton
Patrick King
Harp
Bryn Lewis
Programme Notes Edward Bhesania. Edward Bhesania is a music journalist and editor who writes for The Stage, The Strad and the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.
Editorial Photography Mark Allan
LSO Visual Identity & Concept Design Bridge & Partners Details correct at time of going to print.
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