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Started by The Six, November 11, 2011, 10:32:51 AM

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madaboutmahler

Quote from: Mirror Image on November 13, 2011, 06:21:48 PM
Well Mahler's music doesn't bore me. It's exciting stuff to be sure. I'm just going to have to give him more time. I do remember being enthralled with Symphony No. 2 when I first heard it with Leonard Bernstein conducting the NY Philharmonic on Sony. Man, this is such an amazing performance all-around. I think I'm going to have a Mahler marathon either tomorrow or Tuesday. I just need to give ol' Mahler another chance. My Dad, you, Ilaria, many others on this forum love his music so it must mean something! 8)

Yes!!!!! :D
Enjoy John - I do hope you begin to love Mahler as much as we do here! :) Let us know!
"Music is ... A higher revelation than all Wisdom & Philosophy"
— Ludwig van Beethoven

Mirror Image

Quote from: madaboutmahler on November 14, 2011, 08:15:44 AM
Yes!!!!! :D
Enjoy John - I do hope you begin to love Mahler as much as we do here! :) Let us know!

Thanks, Daniel. I'm sure I'm going to enjoy the music, but at far as loving it, that may take some time. 8)

madaboutmahler

Quote from: Mirror Image on November 14, 2011, 08:19:44 AM
Thanks, Daniel. I'm sure I'm going to enjoy the music, but at far as loving it, that may take some time. 8)

haha ;) Of course, I understand! :) Which one will you go to next after no.2? :)
"Music is ... A higher revelation than all Wisdom & Philosophy"
— Ludwig van Beethoven

Jared

Quote from: madaboutmahler on November 14, 2011, 08:24:31 AM
haha ;) Of course, I understand! :) Which one will you go to next after no.2? :)

No.5 would be a good choice...

Mirror Image

Quote from: madaboutmahler on November 14, 2011, 08:24:31 AM
haha ;) Of course, I understand! :) Which one will you go to next after no.2? :)

The 6th, which I understand is your favorite. ;) :D

BobsterLobster

I remember having to write essays on the hypothesis that music doesn't contain emotion. Academics typically assert Stravinsky's quote that "music is, by its very nature, essentially powerless to express anything at all". However, it seems blatantly obvious to me when I listen to music that emotions are carried within the music... but explaining this with cold logic is very tough. It reminds me of an academic friend of mine who is very logical... I was speaking to her about a piece of music which had "moved me down to my soul", and she had no idea what I was talking about, thinking about what a strange notion it would be to have a 'soul'!

madaboutmahler

Quote from: Mirror Image on November 14, 2011, 09:32:46 AM
The 6th, which I understand is your favorite. ;) :D

Yes! :) Along with no.9 of course! :) Which performance will you be going for? Bernstein I imagine? Solti is my absolute favourite for no.6. :)
"Music is ... A higher revelation than all Wisdom & Philosophy"
— Ludwig van Beethoven

Mirror Image

Quote from: madaboutmahler on November 14, 2011, 10:10:17 AM
Yes! :) Along with no.9 of course! :) Which performance will you be going for? Bernstein I imagine? Solti is my absolute favourite for no.6. :)

I don't know, Daniel. I'm just going to take it slow with Mahler and not try to rush things. I'm probably going to be re-listening to the 6th but with a different conductor/orchestra this time with Abbado/Berliners from this set:

[asin]B000009MCC[/asin]


madaboutmahler

Quote from: Mirror Image on November 14, 2011, 10:21:16 AM
I don't know, Daniel. I'm just going to take it slow with Mahler and not try to rush things. I'm probably going to be re-listening to the 6th but with a different conductor/orchestra this time with Abbado/Berliners from this set:

[asin]B000009MCC[/asin]

That certainly is a great set. Solti always for me though! Sometimes I find Abbado a little under-tempo.... but still, his cycle would probably be my favourite Mahler cycle after Bernstein DG and Solti.
Enjoy, and keep me updated with your Mahler journey! :)
"Music is ... A higher revelation than all Wisdom & Philosophy"
— Ludwig van Beethoven

Jared

Quote from: madaboutmahler on November 14, 2011, 10:29:18 AM
Enjoy, and keep me updated with your Mahler journey! :)

when I finally got around to Mahler.. some time after the Strauss tone poems and Bruckner, I emersed myself for over 3 months, listening to almost nothing else in the mean time... I then took a bit of a break, then spent about another 6 weeks on all his vocal works; different Amazon packages arriving each week with new versions.. at the end of it all, I felt thoroughly 'Mahlered Out', but also felt a tremendous sense of personal achievement and joy...  :)

Mirror Image

Quote from: madaboutmahler on November 14, 2011, 10:29:18 AM
That certainly is a great set. Solti always for me though! Sometimes I find Abbado a little under-tempo.... but still, his cycle would probably be my favourite Mahler cycle after Bernstein DG and Solti.
Enjoy, and keep me updated with your Mahler journey! :)

Abbado's 7th is still one of the top performances of this symphony for me. I think this is one of the highlights of his set. Haven't heard any of his Mahler live recordings with the Berliners, have you? My Dad owns them all, but I haven't even listened to them.

Mirror Image

Quote from: Jared on November 14, 2011, 10:35:03 AM
when I finally got around to Mahler.. some time after the Strauss tone poems and Bruckner, I emersed myself for over 3 months, listening to almost nothing else in the mean time... I then took a bit of a break, then spent about another 6 weeks on all his vocal works; different Amazon packages arriving each week with new versions.. at the end of it all, I felt thoroughly 'Mahlered Out', but also felt a tremendous sense of personal achievement and joy...  :)

This is one of the problems I have is that get burnt out on certain composers from listening to them over a long period of time. Now, I try not to do this too often and listen to a variety of composers. I'm finding a lot of enjoyment in Mahler right now and I've always been amazed by how much of a genius he was.

Lisztianwagner

QuoteWell Mahler's music doesn't bore me. It's exciting stuff to be sure. I'm just going to have to give him more time. I do remember being enthralled with Symphony No. 2 when I first heard it with Leonard Bernstein conducting the NY Philharmonic on Sony. Man, this is such an amazing performance all-around. I think I'm going to have a Mahler marathon either tomorrow or Tuesday. I just need to give ol' Mahler another chance. My Dad, you, Ilaria, many others on this forum love his music so it must mean something! 8)

Quote from: madaboutmahler on November 14, 2011, 08:15:44 AM
Yes!!!!! :D
Enjoy John - I do hope you begin to love Mahler as much as we do here! :) Let us know!

That's definitely great, I hope John will enjoy that beautiful, thrilling, evocative music! :D

Haha, here's the Mahler phase I was waiting for ;)
"Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire." - Gustav Mahler

Karl Henning

Quote from: BobsterLobster on November 14, 2011, 09:40:37 AM
I remember having to write essays on the hypothesis that music doesn't contain emotion. Academics typically assert Stravinsky's quote that "music is, by its very nature, essentially powerless to express anything at all". However, it seems blatantly obvious to me when I listen to music that emotions are carried within the music... but explaining this with cold logic is very tough. It reminds me of an academic friend of mine who is very logical... I was speaking to her about a piece of music which had "moved me down to my soul", and she had no idea what I was talking about, thinking about what a strange notion it would be to have a 'soul'!

I think we've all had powerful experiences, and emotional experiences, as a result of listening to music.  Which is not the same thing as saying that these things are contained within the music.  But it's certainly a tangle, and quite often an enjoyable tangle.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Jared

Quote from: Mirror Image on November 14, 2011, 10:37:58 AM
This is one of the problems I have is that get burnt out on certain composers from listening to them over a long period of time. Now, I try not to do this too often and listen to a variety of composers. I'm finding a lot of enjoyment in Mahler right now and I've always been amazed by how much of a genius he was.

Good for you... it's a truly rewarding journey for those with an open mind (and having read some of your posts, you seem to have that in spades..  ;)  )  I guess I mentioned it because Mahler really is the ONLY composer I felt I've ever had to do that with... when I was going through my 3 Bruckner cycles, I was chopping and changing out of lots of other composers at the same time, but Mahler jujst seemd to be significantly more daunting as prospect...

Mirror Image

Quote from: Jared on November 14, 2011, 10:59:10 AM
Good for you... it's a truly rewarding journey for those with an open mind (and having read some of your posts, you seem to have that in spades..  ;)  )  I guess I mentioned it because Mahler really is the ONLY composer I felt I've ever had to do that with... when I was going through my 3 Bruckner cycles, I was chopping and changing out of lots of other composers at the same time, but Mahler jujst seemd to be significantly more daunting as prospect...

I'm not sure if I have an open-mind about music, but I do know what I enjoy, which, I suppose counts for something. I tend to favor 20th Century music the most, but the late-Romantics are some favorites as well. By the way, I'm not sure if I welcomed to the forum yet, but I hope you're enjoying your experience here so far. I've made some good friends here and there are so many knowledgeable people here. From Baroque to Contemporary music, there's somebody here who has dedicated their listening time exploring and educating themselves about their favorite time period.

The man in my avatar, Charles Koechlin, is my musical soulmate.

Jared

^^ thanks for the welcome...  8)

my tastes are fairly eclectic, from Tallis to Sibelius with lots in between, although much 20th Century is, thus far, a weak spot with me... but hey, life is a steep learning curve! (as I just appear to have denied in the Non-Classical Music Thread... ho-humm..  :D )

Mirror Image

Quote from: Jared on November 14, 2011, 11:22:35 AM
^^ thanks for the welcome...  8)

my tastes are fairly eclectic, from Tallis to Sibelius with lots in between, although much 20th Century is, thus far, a weak spot with me... but hey, life is a steep learning curve! (as I just appear to have denied in the Non-Classical Music Thread... ho-humm..  :D )

Ah, love Sibelius. I still have a soft-spot for his music. I went on a huge Sibelius shopping spree many years ago. Now, I've ran out of things to buy. ;) Anyway, you say the 20th Century is a weak spot for you? Could you elaborate on this?

Jared

^^ yes, I sometimes joke that my musical taste in CM takes in most things up to 1913, plus Vaughan-Williams, Sibelius and Nielsen...  :-[

am really hitting the Rennaissance stuff at present... it's a wonderful journey, but am quite sure that in time, my knowledge and appreciation will expand to include more 20th Cent...

Mirror Image

Quote from: Jared on November 14, 2011, 11:34:14 AM
^^ yes, I sometimes joke that my musical taste in CM takes in most things up to 1913, plus Vaughan-Williams, Sibelius and Nielsen...  :-[

am really hitting the Rennaissance stuff at present... it's a wonderful journey, but am quite sure that in time, my knowledge and appreciation will expand to include more 20th Cent...

For me, I don't listen to a lot of post-WII composers. I'm not sure why, but I'm just not too keen on what's going on in classical music these days. I hope Karl Henning doesn't beat me up for saying that. 8)