Honeck / Pittburgh's Hammerschlag

[hrandall]

Now this looks like fun:

http://blogs.sites.post-gazette.com/index.php/arts-a-entertainment/classical-musings/34449-the-original-beat-box-mahlers-hammerschlag-of-symphony-no-6

I can't wait for this next installment of Honeck / PSO's cycle to be released.

Cheers,
Herb

[barry guerrero]

Looks good. That's becoming the standard these days: a wooden box with a sound-hole, stuck by a wooden mallet. It should work just fine. Should be an awesome M6 as well.

I guess they're going to do a three stroke version (?). But if you're going to bother to build the box, what the heck!

One point though: if you're going to reinstate the third hammerstroke, then you should also do the orginal (first version) orchestration surrounding that stroke. It's quite different.

[waderice]

The sound of the Hammerschlag in M6 has always been a problem of how conductors perceive the sound to be.  Either the sound ends up being wimpy or a bloated bass.  I think it should be rather resonant and impactful.  This would be a good subject for me to research as to who has done it best thus far, but with most all of my Mahler recordings currently in storage, that will have to wait.

I've never seen exactly what various devices have been used, but the box with the hole makes sense.  Also, it probably should be raised a few inches on blocks on what hopefully is a wooden floor stage to allow the sound to resonate sufficiently.

Wade

[barry guerrero]

"Also, it probably should be raised a few inches on blocks on what hopefully is a wooden floor stage to allow the sound to resonate sufficiently."

Makes perfect sense to me!

Just remember that the second stroke is usually performed with the optional doubling of tam-tam and cymbals. The issue is further complicated by the fact that the bass drum doubles the hammer on both strokes, regardless of whether the optional gong & cymbals are added to the second one. For a recording that is 'sans doublings', I think the hammer sounds pretty darn good on the Chailly/Concertgebouw one (Decca). 

[brunumb]

There's an interesting section on the hammer blows in this article on the 6th symphony:
Myth and Reality in Mahler's Sixth Symphony by Jeffrey Gantz
http://www.mahlerfest.org/mfXVI/notes_myth_reality.htm

Extract:
"Throughout the composition of the symphony, there were no hammer blows. For some period after its completion, in the summer of 1904, there were five; then there were three. By the summer of 1906, there were two. Three hammer blows were not an integral part of the Finale's conception, and they may not have been part of the MS for very long."

[brunumb]

From this description of the hammer blows it's really hard to know exactly what they should sound like.
"...and the famous hammer, whose strokes were to be 'short, mighty but dull in resonance, with a non-metallic character, like the stroke of an axe'. "

I've always felt that the music should come to a halt, or somehow 'stagger' when the hammer strikes, as a natural response to a mighty blow.  But the music just swirls on without pause and the blow just sounds amongst it all.

[barry guerrero]

In my opinion, that's because the hammer doesn't signify the end to something, but rather the start of musical chaos and malice - like a dam bursting open. To me, it's about the release of pent-up energy.

Also, if you buy the Dover Edition score to M6 - which is of the FIRST VERSION - you'll see that there are three hammer-strokes.  Does that mean that Ratz or some other editor fiddled with them?  .    .    .   Who knows?  You'll also see that the orchestration surrounding the third stroke is somewhat different. Benjamin Zander recorded it that way, but then Telarc went too far by putting a sticker on the cover that said, "first recording of the original version" (or some such thing). That's not correct, as there are a great deal of other differences between the two versions than just the music surrounding the third stroke. What fools these mortals be!!

[buffoto]

My wife and I are driving down to Pittsburgh this afternoon for tonight's concert. Our first live M6. Been looking forward to this one for quite some time. Saw Honeck conduct M3 a couple of years ago and was very impressed with that performance. Wow, that hammerschlag looks like the real deal!

[Russ Smiley]

Do share your impressions!

[hrandall]

Here's a review, that claims there were 5 hammer blows!

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/ae/music/honeck-pso-deliver-a-dramatic-reading-of-mahlers-sixth-640639/?p=0

Can't wait to hear the recording!

Cheers,
Herb

[James Meckley]

Here's a review, that claims there were 5 hammer blows!
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/ae/music/honeck-pso-deliver-a-dramatic-reading-of-mahlers-sixth-640639/?p=0

So it seems Honeck has "restored" the originally-planned (but never-performed) five hammer blow sequence into the revised version of the symphony, compounding the error of those who simply "restore" the final blow. I'm stunned.

I hope against hope that he'll actually make the first-ever (and much-needed) recording of the original orchestration—see the Dover or Eulenburg editions—and that the reviewer simply didn't notice or failed to mention it.

A hammer blow in the ninth measure will take some getting used to!

James

[buffoto]

My wife and I attended the Saturday night performance. The hammerschlag was struck only twice. I wonder if on Sunday afternoon Honeck decided to give it 3 blows to illustrate, over the course of a weekend, all 3 options for performance. And what a performance! Being familiar with at least 5 different interpretations of M6, two favorites being both the frenetic Lenny NYP and the more subdued Boulez VPO, Honeck's interpretation was really all its own. Remarkable. The entire orchestra rose to the occasion. Forceful, shining brass, great string playing. PSO is one of the best for sure. The way Honeck varied tempos within movements was interesting in the way it seemed entirely natural and right. This past February we heard David Robertson of the LSO (who was filling in for Boulez on short notice) conduct the Cleveland Orchestra in a performance of M5. From beginning to end the tempos were very slow and remained sluggish throughout each movement, theme, and bridge. This stretching everything out didn't work for me and it was the first time I ever wished for a Mahler symphony to come to a conclusion because I was tired and wanted to go to bed. Honeck's M6 was incredibly dramatic, but never ponderous.       

Unfortunately, we were not entirely able to savor the entire performance and emotional ride the way Mahler probably intended for it to be experienced. If someone were to ask you, fellow lover of Mahler's music, if there was going to have to be a cell phone go off in the audience, what would be the absolute worst time during the entire 80 minute or so masterpiece for it to ring? Yes, you guessed it! Horror upon horror, just seconds before the final note of the 4th movement is sounded, exactly at that moment when you're holding your breath waiting for that initial blasting fortissimo note sounding the final emphatic statement of the fate theme, RING RING RING RING!!
As the audience jumped to their feet with rapturous applause I was so bloody angry I turned around to confront the perpetrator of my discontent and expressed my feelings quite clearly. Now in retrospect, the entire experience was like a lost episode of Seinfeld.           

[Roffe]

Why do people never learn? This guy destroyed the experience (at least to some degree) for all the several hundred in the audience. I get upset even if I wasn't there myself.

Roffe

[waderice]

Why do people never learn? This guy destroyed the experience (at least to some degree) for all the several hundred in the audience. I get upset even if I wasn't there myself.

Roffe

At least at every Baltimore Symphony concert in Strathmore Music Center in Rockville, MD, the management always verbally asks the audience (over their P.A. system) to turn off all electronic devices and silence signal watches before the concert begins.  Do they do that at Pittsburgh?  Such a request if mentioned only in the printed concert program isn't enough.

The next step to assure compliance against all such offenders might be to require all concert patrons to check such devices at the cloak room before entering the concert hall.  Could you imagine the logistical and traffic nightmare pre- and post-concert that would create?  And not to mention the likelihood of possible theft and loss.

Wade

[hrandall]

I vote for cell phone signal jammers in every concert hall!

Cell phone ringing, 5 or 20 hammer blows, I can't wait to hear the Honeck recording(s)!

Cheers,
Herb