Question on Mahler

[greg]

pre-Webernian aroma in the Ninth Symphony!   

I don't know what you mean by this. 
Are you talking about the colorful, nearly pointilistic orchestration in the inner movements? (which aren't too different from what he's done earlier, anyways)

[Cato]

I don't know what you mean by this. 
Are you talking about the colorful, nearly pointilistic orchestration in the inner movements? (which aren't too different from what he's done earlier, anyways)

The opening alone fits what I was talking about: look at the score, especially the first page or two.  A two/four-note motif, scattered throughout the orchestra, and remains a unifying factor throughout, all the way to the final bars.

Hey Karl!  You a closet Nirvana fan?   

[greg]

The opening alone fits what I was talking about: look at the score, especially the first page or two.  A two/four-note motif, scattered throughout the orchestra, and remains a unifying factor throughout, all the way to the final bars.

Ok.........i gotcha here!

Hey Karl!  You a closet Nirvana fan?   

I don't think Karl's got it in him........ the closest he gets is Shostakovich........  but.......

[RebLem]

Its called earning a living.

Plus, he had to keep Alma in nice lingerie so she could seduce his conducting students.   

[jochanaan]

Its called earning a living.

That remark might have applied to R. Strauss (or not), but the accounts by Alma and Bruno Walter both agree that he was as devoted to his performing as to his composing.  Mahler seemed to treat each performance he led as a matter of life and death.

I think of that when I think of what Mahler said about sometimes a central job of the conductor is to not to interfere with the players, to stay out of their way.

I feel "sometimes" is the operative word.  Mahler's scores are written so that in many places, it's clear he wants individual players and sections to take the lead--all those times one player either changes tempo or refuses to regardless of what the rest of the orchestra is doing!--but most who write about his rehearsals agree that he did plenty of "interfering"!

[Josquin des Prez]

Mahler seemed to treat each performance he led as a matter of life and death.

Is there something that Mahler DIDN'T treat as a matter of life and death?

[adamdavid80]

Is there something that Mahler DIDN'T treat as a matter of life and death?

Death.

[Bunny]

All theaters Mahler worked at where state theaters (that's why the Vienna Court Opera (Hofoper) was called the Vienna Court Opera). Except for the MET where he appeared, but not for very long.

Don't forget Carnegie Hall, which was not a state "theater" or hall either.

[M forever]

I wasn't talking about every single venue Mahler ever appeared in, but about the opera houses where he was employed, not other places where he gigged now and then.

[Bunny]

He was hired as the music director for the NYPO which played in Carnegie Hall.  That's not exactly a one night gig.

[M forever]

We know that, thanks, but that wasn't the question. The question was whether or not the theaters he worked at were mostly state-subsidized and whether or not the financial situation there influenced his choice of programming towards more "popular" works. That was back on p.1.