Mahler's tangled Tenth

Composers Datebook

Synopsis

The year 1960 marked the centenary of the birth of composer Gustav Mahler, and British musicologist Deryck Cooke hit upon the idea of preparing a performing edition of Mahler’s Symphony No. 10, a work left unfinished at the time of Mahler’s death in 1911. This was a daunting task for two reasons.

First, Mahler’s widow, Alma, had resisted efforts for a close examination of his manuscript for his 10th Symphony, as it was peppered with emotionally charged comments to her in Mahler’s hand, painful reminders that her husband had just discovered she was having an affair with another man.

Secondly, although Mahler had sketched out his symphony in full, most of it was not orchestrated. Now, he was a master orchestrator, and many argued that only a similarly gifted composer could flesh out his sketches. Schoenberg and Shostakovich were both asked to do so, but both declined.

Deryck Cooke, however, persisted, and completed his version of Mahler’s Symphony No. 10 in time for some excerpts to be broadcast in 1960. Even Alma was impressed, and eventually relented, and so, on today’s date in 1964, the London Symphony gave the first complete concert performance of Cooke’s arrangement of Mahler’s Symphony No. 10.

Music Played in Today's Program

Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) arr. Cooke: Symphony No. 10; Berlin Philharmonic; Sir Simon Rattle, conductor; EMI 56972