Gustav Mahler

Symphonisches Präludium

This ouverture-like symphonic movement in C-minor has been ascribed in the past to as well Anton Bruckner as Gustav Mahler. But in the eighty's of the last century it became almost certain that Mahler has to be the composer of this work. It was proofed by Paul Banks by detailed stylistic analysis and analytical studies that have been verified and confirmed by prominent musicologists Donald Mitchell and David Metthews. For this evidence, Banks refers to the structural and clear thematic identities between the "Präludium", the opening of Mahler's early "Piano Quartet" and the "Waldmärchen", the first version of "Das klagende Lied". Berlin composer Albrecht Guersching was asked to make the movement performable and completed the instrumentation. This "reconstruction" was first performed by the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra under Lawrence Foster (1981) as "Symphonisches Praeludium" by Gustav Mahler and is now transcribed for Symphonic Band by Dutch arranger Henk Mertens.