A Symphony Made Anew
David Briggs on transcribing Mahler 2 for the organ. David Briggs transcribes and plays Mahler’s Second Symphony on the Grand Organ of St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney, featuring the St Mary’s Singers. Several important ingredients go into both the making and the performance of successful organ transcriptions. I always start from the full orchestral score and not a piano reduction. It’s perhaps surprising that, with Mahler’s symphonies, it’s not necessary to reduce too much, or to leave too much out. If you look at the sketches, things are often quite clear (and written for piano over three staves). The magic with Mahler comes, of course, from the subtlety of the orchestral color, but with modern organ console technology and a degree of imagination it’s possible to replicate (or more accurately translate) this in a new medium. It’s important, too, not to make the transcription unplayable… I tend to find ways, through octave transpositions, reorganising of the voicing of the harmony, and so on, to make the music lie well under the hands and both feet. Processing each note is a very time-consuming (and rather therapeutic) exercise – each bar requires a large amount of thought and this is a perfect way…