Mahlerly Challenged

[George]

Absolutely....this thread is considered "gold" to me at this point with all the insightful feedback.  My main goal now is to set aside a bit of time this weekend for uninterrupted listening.  Until I do at least this, then I feel I have not approached this music appropriately.

Excellent. Keep us posted. 

[bassio]

When? How? Where?

I have just started discovering him.
I started by listening to his sixth (Kubelik). Any other suggestions on how to approach this guy?

Thanks

[PerfectWagnerite]

What's the problem. He is such an easy composer to listen to.

[gmstudio]

Pffft.  Mahler-schmahler. 

Try the 9th next.  If it leaves you with an unquenchable desire to slit your wrists, then welcome to the club. You're hooked for life. I suggest Baribolli's 9th.  And an Exacto.

- gmstudio, member: He-man Mahler Wrist-Kutter Klub (joined 1989)

[jochanaan]

bassio, if you've "got" the Sixth (especially by Kubelik, whose Mahler I have never heard but is said to be among the greatest), then just about anywhere you could go is probably fine.  In fact, I'd recommend trying the joyous Eighth next for a complete contrast. Good recordings include the classic one by Jascha Horenstein and the London Symphony and one slightly later by Leonard Bernstein and the same orchestra.

[Gustav]

What's the problem. He is such an easy composer to listen to.

I agree. Mahler's symphonic language should be very appealing, if you liked the 6th, then check out the 1st and 5th as well. I can't imagine that there is a mahler symphony that is "hard" to get into.

[Bonehelm]

I agree. Mahler's symphonic language should be very appealing, if you liked the 6th, then check out the 1st and 5th as well. I can't imagine that there is a mahler symphony that is "hard" to get into.

Well his 8th could be hard. I never heard of any symphony that has a 55 minute movement.

[The new erato]

Well his 8th could be hard. I never heard of any symphony that has a 55 minute movement.

Petterson 9 is in one 70-minute movement.......

[Bonehelm]

Petterson 9 is in one 70-minute movement.......

But is that in standard repertoire? I don't think so.

[Montpellier]

When? How? Where?

I have just started discovering him.
I started by listening to his sixth (Kubelik). Any other suggestions on how to approach this guy?

Thanks

I'm having a go.  Tried the 7th, listened to it throughout twice but it doesn't make sense yet.  My initial reaction is excess.   He didn't need such a massive orchestra and could have pruned the first movement.  The coda takes too long and might have been better at the end of the work.  The slower movements are pleasant and easy enough though. 

I'd guess you need plenty of time to absorb Mahler and wonder if actual concert performances would be the best approach.

[Mark G. Simon]

I think Mahler is a pretty difficult composer, and often takes quite a while to "get", even if you're disposed to like his music, which more people are these days than was the case several decades ago.

The 7th is probably the most difficult of the symphonies, or at least the most enigmatic.

[The Emperor]

I started my Mahler adventure with the 2nd and was hooked instantly.

The 1st is pretty easy to listen too, probably a good start(although i don't like some parts of it)

[Sergeant Rock]

Well his 8th could be hard. I never heard of any symphony that has a 55 minute movement.

65, if it's really good 

Sarge

[Sergeant Rock]

When?

NOW!

How?

Start with the orchestral songs, namely: Leider Eines Fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Wayfarer) and Des Knaben Wunderhorn. Then the First Symphony, Second, etc., not forgetting Das Lied von der Erde, sandwiched between the Eighth and Ninth.

Where?

Wherever you are!

Sarge

[hornteacher]

I just recently started getting into Mahler.  Still trying to get over the sheer length of his music (I have a short attention span).  BUT, several people here encouraged me to try Symphony 1 first.  I think its the shortest and probably most accessable.  I'm still working on the length but I'm finding things in the music that I enjoy.

[MDL]

Mahler's Symphonies 1-4 are the most approachable. 6 and 9 are his greatest.

[Symphonien]

If you can understand the 6th, then you should be ready for pretty much any of the others. The 6th was one of the more difficult ones for me to understand on first listening (but I now love it of course). The most immediately accessible, for me at least, seemed to be the 1st and 5th. The 8th I still don't really like as much as any of the other symphonies, probably because of the singing throughout. If you're not much of a fan of singing, then I would recommend staying away from the 8th - to me it seems more like something out of an opera than a symphony. The singing in the 2nd and 3rd I can handle, but not in the 4th, even though it only occurs in the last movement, I haven't really gotten into this symphony yet.

If you have any problems with the length of the symphonies, then I would recommend listening to and getting your head around individual movements one at a time. This was how I learned to appreciate the 3rd and 7th. Only listening to them all the way through, I never was able to keep my concentration up to understand everything going on. It's much easier when you know each movement well.

Interesting how my progression has gone with Mahler really. When I first started out and didn't really understand him my favourites were the 1st and 5th. Then, when I listened some more times and started to really get into him my favourites were the 2nd and 6th. After that stage, I stopped listening to him for some time and now that I have gone back to him my favourites are the 3rd and 7th! Maybe I will end up liking the 4th and 8th some day...

So just keep listening, and you'll be sure to find something you enjoy. A truly great composer that rewards repeated listening!

[jochanaan]

Interestingly, the Eighth was my first exposure to Mahler--love at first hearing. After that, I was definitely "Mahlered."

[MahlerSnob]

The only thing more contentious than which Mahler symphony is the greatest is which Mahler symphony is the most difficult to understand. I personally would recommend starting with the orchestral song cycles: Songs of a Wayfarer, Kindertotenlieder, Ruckert Lieder, and the Das Lied von der Erde. Since all of Mahler's music is in some way based in song, it is essential to understand the songs before you can really understand the symphonys. Even in the purely instrumental symphonys (1, 5, 6, 7, 9) references to the songs are everywhere.
The first symphony is generally agreed upon as the most approachable symphony. I also find 2, 3, 5, 6, and 9 to be easily comprehended - the later of these deal with difficult concepts, but they aren't particularly difficult to understand. Four is hard for most people to get into. This is probably because it is so different from the three symphonys that proceed it and the two symphonys that follow it. However, I find it to be the work most representative of Mahler's output. Everything Mahler did is in this work, from his simplest songs to his grandest Adagios. Then there is the seventh, which is the most conceptually complicated of his symphonys. I would save this for last. The eighth is a strange work and no doubt his most extroverted.
My advice to those who are looking at Mahler for the first time is to go slowly. Don't move on to the next symphony until you begin to understand the one you're working on.

[PSmith08]

Why not start at the very beginning, so to speak? That's right, Mahler's under-appreciated early cantata Das klagende Lied, which has a long composition history (1875-1901) and a tradition of neglect.

It is backward-looking enough, i.e., toward Wagner and beyond, and forward-looking enough (which could be a result of its nearly twenty-year gestation) to make it accessible and allusive to 'future' Mahler works.

It's also a pretty good story, as these things go.