Dedicated to Klaus Mäkelä

 

From 1893 to 1896, Steinbach in Upper Austria became a summer haven for GustavMahler. A modest composing hut by the shores of the Attersee, built in 1894, saw the completion of the Second Symphony, the entire creation of the Third Symphony, and numerous songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn. Southeast of the lake stand theHöllengebirge (literally "hell mountains") – a karst range whose cliffs loom dramatically over the water. Recounting a visit there, Bruno Walter recalled:

 

“I arrived by steamer on a glorious July day; Mahler was there on the jetty to meet me [...] As on our way to his house I looked up to the Höllengebirge, whose sheer cliffs made a grim background to the charming landscape, he said ‘You don’t need to look – I have composed all this already!’.”

 

The music of Mahler has always been a part of my composing life – when I was younger, I always had the score of the Fifth Symphony with me when travelling. When Klaus Mäkelä invited me to write this tribute, my thoughts turned towards something I’ve always admired in Mahler: his ability to conjure feelings of awe-inspiring space by means of acoustic resonance. I also became preoccupied with two musical objects that bookend his symphonic output: the shattering dissonance from his Tenth and the falling fourths which open his First. These objects came to permeate my score and, to my ears, have given this piece a very particular character.

 

A.H.