Editing Orchestration (section)

===Mahler===
William Austin (1966) says "[[Mahler]] expanded the orchestra, going ahead to a historic climax in the direction already marked by [[Beethoven]], [[Berlioz]] and [[Wagner]]… The purpose of this famous expansion was not a sheer increase in volume, but a greater variety of sound with more nearly continuous gradations… Mahler only occasionally required all his vast orchestra to play together, and his music was as often soft as loud.  Its colours were continually shifting, blending or contrasting with each other."<ref>Austin, W. (1966, p. 123) ''Music in the 20th Century''.  London, Dent.</ref> [[Adorno]] (1971) similarly describes Mahler's symphonic writing as characterised by "massive tutti effects" contrasted with "chamber-music procedures".<ref>Adorno, T.W. (1971, p. 53) ''Mahler, a musical physiognomy''.  Trans. Jephcott.  University of Chicago Press.</ref> The following passage from the first movement of his Symphony No. 4 illustrates this:[[File:Mahler 4 1st movt Fig 5.wav|thumb|Mahler, Symphony No. 4, first movement, Fig 5]][[File:Mahler 4 1st movt Fig 5.png|thumb|center|500px|Mahler, Symphony No. 4, first movement, Figure 5.]] Only in the first bar of the above is there a full ensemble.  The remaining bars feature highly differentiated small groups of instruments.  Mahler's experienced conductor's ear led him to write detailed performance markings in his scores, including carefully calibrated dynamics.  For example, in bar 2 above, the low harp note is marked [[Dynamics (music)|''forte'']], the clarinets, [[Dynamics (music)|''mezzo-forte'']] and the horns [[Dynamics (music)|''piano'']].  Austin (1966) says that "Mahler cared about the finest nuances of loudness and tempo and worked tirelessly to fix these details in his scores."<ref>Austin, W. (1966, p. 123) ''Music in the 20th Century''.  London, Dent.</ref>

Mahler's imagination for sonority is exemplified in the closing bars of the slow movement of the Fourth Symphony, where there occurs what [[Walter Piston]] (1969, p.&nbsp;140) describes as "an instance of inspired orchestration… To be noted are the sudden change of mode in the harmonic progression, the unusual spacing of the chord in measure 5, and the placing of the perfect fourth in the two flutes. The effect is quite unexpected and magical."<ref>Piston, W. (1969) ''Orchestration''.  London, Victor Gollancz.</ref>[[File:Mahler 4 3rd movement Fig 13.wav|thumb|Mahler Symphony No 4, third movement, Figure 13.]][[File:Mahler 4 third movement.png|thumb|center|500px|Mahler Symphony No 4, third movement, Figure 13.]] According to Donald Mitchell, the "rational basis" of Mahler's orchestration was "to enable us to comprehend his music by hearing precisely what was going on."<ref>Mitchell, D. (1975, p.213) ''Gustav Mahler, the Wunderhorn Years''. London, Faber.</ref>