Mahler VS. Good Music Guide

[Bonehelm]

Let's say the great late-romantic composer Gustav Mahler declared war on the entire GMG community. The more "complex, sophisticated" side wins......since "complexity" is apparently what some members use to measure the greatness of a composer. And for those who DON'T agree with complexity = good, don't worry...chill..as MahlerTitan had said, this is an internet forum, don't get too emotional. Sit back and relax, this thread is OBVIOUSLY for fun.  So here it goes:

THE MILITARY POWERS OF GUSTAV MAHLER, THE GREAT ROMANTIC COMPOSER:

1. Constant key-modulations: Some say this is progressive tonality, in which a work ends in a different key than what it started in.
2. Highly contrapuntal passages: Known for his mastery of counterpoint, the great Austro-Bohemian composer was godly in organizing different instruments and putting them into different roles, while making beautiful melodies at the same time
3. Deep, innovative instrumentation: He was also a proud primitive composer in using new timbres, exploring the extreme ranges of the instruments, and expanding the sheer massiveness of an orchestra. It is clearly reflected in works like the Symphony of a Thousand, in which multiple bands and choirs are scored for.
4. Lengthy compositions: The 3rd symphony by Mahler, is the longest symphony in the common repertoire. Of course there are some that are longer than 100 minutes, (e.g. the Gothic symphony by Havergal Brian) but that isn't performed a lot. Most Mahlerian symphonies are over 70 minutes in length, some are over 85.
5. Artistic Unity: Recurring motives. Probably influenced by another great composer, Richard Wagner, Mahler reuses a lot of motives in his works. Say the 1st and 2nd symphony, in which during the final movement, previous material makes "cameo" appearences, to unite the entire huge symphony to a whole. For instance, the falling-fourth bird calls are heard in his 1st symphonies' finale, and the calls were originally the center of the symphony's 1st movement.

                                                 VERSUS

THE AMAZING IMAGINATION AND CREATIVITY OF THE GMG FORUM:

1. Just...Randomness: From headphones misuse to German jelly donuts (suggested by Mark), from M Forever's funny insults to 71dB's brilliant scientific theories, from Penguins-got-owned signatures to mass murderer Mao Ze Dong avatars...GMG is probably the most unpredictable forum ever.
2. Simply astounding "thematic development": That is, the themes of a thread. I swear we house some of the most creative members on the board. There was a thread created by one of us to claim innocence and asks for others' sympathies because people "never agrees" with him, and always "hurt" his feelings. What he got in return, wasn't a load of apologizes and condolences, but a bunch of mindless insults and pities and laughter. Of course, the thread evolved into one about the difficulty of the Chinese language VS the long-assed written text of the Finnish characters, eventually.
3. Hilarious, childlike insults and disses: "Maybe you shoud stop jerking off in front of the monitor and start learning a thing about life or two." As a comeback by our locally renowned music educator, M Forever, when I was pointing out the mistake in his "classic" quote. "blah blah blah composer's chords seem to be all wrong....and Verdi oversimplifies the music for the listeners...if you want to compose simple music, do it honestly, they pretend their music to be complex and sophisticated". That was our famous Elgar-lover 71dB's critique on the great Italian opera master, Giussepe Verdi.
4. Pure arrogance and absurdity: "Why do we pick up a book instead of play on a playstation? I guess the reason is self-aggrandizement." - Michel 
"Everything becomes clear to me after the first hearing of a piece." - 71dB
"I know more about music than you probably ever will" - M Forever
"I know more about the Chinese than you probably ever will" - MahlerTitan
"I don't care about conventional grammar, I make my own rules in English." - Mozart
"I'm a free-thinker...." - 71dB

and more, of course. Those are just the cream of the crop. If our members' minds aren't complex or sophisticated, then I don't know what.
5. Boredom, and no-life-ness: Who actually BOTHERS to create threads like THESE? What a waste of time; oh wait, Bonehelm doesn't even have a life, so time isn't an existing dimension to spiritual beings like him.


Let it begin. Remember, before you post a reply, your responses DO matter in this war, and if they were nonsense, they will do nothing but contribute to and further reinforce my statements and description about the GMG forum. 

[mahlertitan]

wow, look how different you sound now, I still remember the time you were indifferent toward Mahler's music, that was only a while ago....

I told ya, Mahler is Magic.

[Bonehelm]

Haha MT, my attitude and admiration towards Mahler haven't changed...he is still my favourite symphonist along with LvB and Bruckner.....

[Que]

THE AMAZING IMAGINATION AND CREATIVITY OF THE GMG FORUM:

1. Just...Randomness: From headphones misuse to German jelly donuts (suggested by Mark), from M Forever's funny insults to 71dB's brilliant scientific theories, from Penguins-got-owned signatures to mass murderer Mao Ze Dong avatars...GMG is probably the most unpredictable forum ever.
2. Simply astounding "thematic development": That is, the themes of a thread. I swear we house some of the most creative members on the board. There was a thread created by one of us to claim innocence and asks for others' sympathies because people "never agrees" with him, and always "hurt" his feelings. What he got in return, wasn't a load of apologizes and condolences, but a bunch of mindless insults and pities and laughter. Of course, the thread evolved into one about the difficulty of the Chinese language VS the long-assed written text of the Finnish characters, eventually.
3. Hilarious, childlike insults and disses: "Maybe you shoud stop jerking off in front of the monitor and start learning a thing about life or two." As a comeback by our locally renowned music educator, M Forever, when I was pointing out the mistake in his "classic" quote. "blah blah blah composer's chords seem to be all wrong....and Verdi oversimplifies the music for the listeners...if you want to compose simple music, do it honestly, they pretend their music to be complex and sophisticated". That was our famous Elgar-lover 71dB's critique on the great Italian opera master, Giussepe Verdi.
4. Pure arrogance and absurdity: "Why do we pick up a book instead of play on a playstation? I guess the reason is self-aggrandizement." - Michel 
"Everything becomes clear to me after the first hearing of a piece." - 71dB
"I know more about music than you probably ever will" - M Forever
"I know more about the Chinese than you probably ever will" - MahlerTitan
"I don't care about conventional grammar, I make my own rules in English." - Mozart
"I'm a free-thinker...." - 71dB

and more, of course. Those are just the cream of the crop. If our members' minds aren't complex or sophisticated, then I don't know what.
5. Boredom, and no-life-ness: Who actually BOTHERS to create threads like THESE? What a waste of time; oh wait, Bonehelm doesn't even have a life, so time isn't an existing dimension to those spiritual beings like him.

Bonehelm, an entertaining and accurate portrail (! ) of what have steadily become dominant features of GMG posting. Though you can scrap the "sophistication" bit - I don't see very much of that, lately.
Sophistication doesn't necessarily come with intelligence, but depends on what you do with it. I haven't been a member of GMG that long, but it wasn't always like this and it certainly does not reflect the attitude of all posters.

It seems that there is not much interest anymore in talk on good music and interesting performances/recordings, with the notable exception of Bruckner and Mahler. We have too many member here that are absolutely bored out of their minds, who post in threads on subjects they are not interested in and are too lethargic to make any contribution other than absolute nonsense.

Q

[Bonehelm]

I agree, Q!

I hope more members will realize (like you did) that this thread is not made to make fun of anyone; it is merely entertainment 

[Mozart]

"I don't care about conventional grammar, I make my own rules in English." - Mozart

dude i'd be way to lazy to capitalize that e 

Sophistication doesn't necessarily come with intelligence, but depends on what you do with it.

What exactly is sophistication? Can you give some examples.


Ohh and buy gold my man.

[Que]

dude i'd be way to lazy to capitalize that e 

What exactly is sophistication?

Perhaps Bonehelm and I had differents meanings of the word in mind - but I was thinking of this:

"The quality or character of being intellectually sophisticated through cultivation or experience or disillusionment"

synonyms: composure, elegance, finesse, poise, refinement, savoir faire, savoir vivre, social grace, style, tact, urbanity, worldliness, worldly wisdom.

Ohh and buy gold my man.

Good advice!
And listen to Mozart of course - all the sophistication one ever needs.


Q

[Mozart]

synonyms: composure, elegance, finesse, poise, refinement, savoir faire, savoir vivre, social grace, style, tact, urbanity, worldliness, worldly wisdom.

ehh I guess I don't match any of those 

Good advice! Grin

Just watch it climb over 700 soon 

[Montpellier]

My one and only musical text book (aside from technical books) says:

"It was suddenly realised that Mahler had not written ten big long boring symphonies...which you have to listen to carefully from beginning to end in order not to miss the themes but had, in fact, strung together hundreds of attractive little tunes.  And it was possible to go into a coma for a lot of the symphony and still get involved when you came to again.  It is possible to switch on the car radio at 9.30am in the depths of the country to...a Mahler symphony well into its stride and to arrive in town and find a parking place with it still going on in its forgetfully energetic way that suggests it might still be in progress at 5.30. ....." (Gammond)

[mahlertitan]

I know more about the Chinese than you probably ever will.

I wasn't lying, just being honest.

[Bonehelm]

I know more about the Chinese than you probably ever will.

I wasn't lying, just being honest.

Yeah, and it is also that attitude you have toward others (which people hate) that I probably won't ever have.

[mahlertitan]

Yeah, and it is also that attitude you have toward others (which people hate) that I probably won't ever have.

right, Mr. Popular

how many people on this forum actually likes you? don't have such high opinion of yourself!

[mahlertitan]

I agree, Q!

I hope more members will realize (like you did) that this thread is not made to make fun of anyone; it is merely entertainment 

or really? how come your name is not up there?

[uffeviking]

Oh dear me! 

What's this forum coming to! Reading all of this thread - admittedly skimming some lengthy contributions - I am overwhelmed by a wave of confrontation, hostility and anger. Is it so difficult to express different opinions about a certain subject with more civility and friendliness, yes friendliness, towards other posters who like to inject a strident tone? Ignoring such a person and not fall into the trap he/she is setting, is the easiest remedy. It's beautiful music we are talking about, not politics!

How about reading my signature, Mr. Bonehelm - and then smile!

[greg]

lol, i don't know what to say, genius!
i never thought GMG was as complex as Mahler, but now I realize that it is..... to me right now, it's a tie, so i didn't vote.

2. Simply astounding "thematic development": That is, the themes of a thread. I swear we house some of the most creative members on the board. There was a thread created by one of us to claim innocence and asks for others' sympathies because people "never agrees" with him, and always "hurt" his feelings. What he got in return, wasn't a load of apologizes and condolences, but a bunch of mindless insults and pities and laughter. Of course, the thread evolved into one about the difficulty of the Chinese language VS the long-assed written text of the Finnish characters, eventually.

who knew that that thread would "end up in China"? as someone said
it really is funny when you look the beginning and end, and you wonder who the heck did that happen?
it's actually simple, really. It isn't all random, but for the progression of threads to change that drastically without actually being random, you take a small detail of someone's post and make a comment about that. Then make another comment and offer more thoughts. Then you get other people involved.
The progression of a GMG thread is often like the progression of a twisted dream...

[karlhenning]

I've just got to go with the fruit I know, and vote banana, early and often.

[Steve]

I've just got to go with the fruit I know, and vote banana, early and often.

Let's start a thread about Jabberwocky... any takers? 

[knight66]

I've just got to go with the fruit I know, and vote banana, early and often.

The option Karl is 'Bananas', and that is a whole different basket of fruit.

Mike

[Mozart]

I've just got to go with the fruit I know, and vote banana, early and often.

Even I would pick Mahler over a banana. 

Bananas are gross, why can't the stay one color for more than 5 minutes? Yucky brown spots...

[mahlertitan]

Even I would pick Mahler over a banana. 

Bananas are gross, why can't the stay one color for more than 5 minutes? Yucky brown spots...

I blame oxygen.