First performance on November 25, 1901 in Munich conducted by Gustav Mahler

1. Bedächtig. Nicht eilen
2. In gemächlicher Bewegung. Ohne Hast
3. Ruhevoll
4. Sehr behaglich

As a fan of Gustav Mahler's music, I feel free to judge his symphonies not by musicology criteria but by emotional aspects only. After the beautiful First Symphony and the two enormous works of the Second and Third Symphony where the exhaustive climax is formed by the sixth movement of the Third, I get the impression that Mahler himself has reached a sort of final point. By the Fourth Symphony, he starts again in a smaller and more modest way than before. In the meantime, he had not written any music after having finally got the so much desired position as director of the Vienna Opera (Wiener Staatsoper) in 1897. So it was only in summer 1899 that he started to work on the Fourth Symphony. Being much occupied with his duties in Vienna and concert travels with the Philharmonic Orchestra, he finished the composition only in the following summer of 1900 and the instrumentation in the beginning of 1901.

However, I find it hard to see the Fourth Symphony as a new start towards the following rises and heights; it rather seems to me being a cheerful and pleasant interlude between two grandiose cycles: "The great tension having dominated Mahler has given way; […] Not only the worldly things, but also the thoughts and visions towards the metaphysics have lost a bit of their seriousness, their importance, their pathos. Sensualities and spiritualities, whatsoever, the composer turns to them with playful joy, with cheerful readiness." (Heinrich Kralik) - I may say, however, that since I heard the performance by Willem Mengelberg and the Concertgebouw Orchestra from 1939, I am much more impressed by the 4th symphony.

On the formal level, the Fourth Symphony with its classical four movements is rather traditional, aside from the soprano solo in the last movement and the partly unusual selection of keys.
The first movement is a sort of rondo in sonata form in the key of G major. A scherzo in c minor forms the second movement ending in c major. Both movements are determined by the distinct use of the woodwind players forming a strong counterweight of the strings. In all instrument groups, the solos are dominating, phrases of the whole orchestra are rather seldom. The scherzo lets us think of the third movement of the Second Symphony, but it is way less mocking and ironic, rather grotesque and burlesque, marked especially by the shrill solo violin but once in a while broken by the mysterious dark beauty of the clarinet solos.
The third movement is a slow movement in G major recalling the finale of the Third Symphony by its soft and dreamy way but without reaching its expressiveness and profundity in any way. Again you see the lighter, the rather chamber music wise character of the Fourth Symphony.
The fourth movement, the finale with soprano solo, is again in the key of G major but ending in E major. Waking up the audience in a rather rude way out of the third movement's dreams, Mahler returns to the burlesque and the symphony ends in the folk song manner which often is typical for the composer.

Corresponding to the character and the volume of the Fourth Symphony, the number of orchestra members is drastically reduced contrary to Mahler's usual preferences; especially the wind players are distinctly less, trombones and tubes does not exist at all. Apparently, the audience gets a quick access to the understanding of the Fourth Symphony, but its gracile shape and its austere beauty are revealed only by repeated, attentive listening.