What IF...??!!!

[King Karajan]

Carlos Klieber - Beethoven 9

Karajan - Mahler 8

You get the idea. What are your great "What if's"

[Brian]

Franz Schubert - age 73
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - age 65
Alexander Scriabin - finishes "Mysterium" 

[Bogey]

Hogwood and AAM finish the Haydn Symph. Cycle?

[King Karajan]

Opus 111 finish the entire Vivaldi catalouge! Oooooooo....

[nut-job]

Karajan - Mahler 8

The master showed good sense not performing that monstrosity.  I wonder why he was not interested in Mahler 1 or Sibelius 3, on the other hand we have many fine recordings of those works.

[imperfection]

Celibidache on Mahler 3: 180 minute symphony anyone?

[Brian]

Celibidache on Mahler 3: 180 minute symphony anyone?

Celibidache's Ring Cycle: 1340 minute opera anyone?

[Lethevich]

Hyperion launches a Segerstam edition.

[Herman]

what if there was a year long moratorium on LvB topics on GMG?

A year without "what's the greatest note in LvB 9?" stuff, just imagine.

[mc ukrneal]

Franz Schubert - age 73
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - age 65
Alexander Scriabin - finishes "Mysterium" 

But then wouldn't he have to change the name?! 

[jhar26]

What if...

...Callas had been a Wagnerian
...Mussorgsky hadn't been a alcoholic
...Anna Netrebko had a pimple on her nose (just kidding, Anna's cool  )
...Schoenberg hadn't been born
...Martha Argerich would record the complete Beethoven piano sonatas and Mozart concertos
...Bernstein had spend more of his time on composing and less on conducting
...Bach had been an atheist
...there had been as many women composers as men
...Wagner had been a Jew
...pop/rock radio stations would also play some (say, 25%) classical music
...instead of the three tenors concert they had opted for a three sopranos concert
...Chopin had been a violinist instead of a pianist

[Teresa]

What if...

...Mussorgsky hadn't been a alcoholic

All of your what if quotes were great but this is one I have thought about for decades, as not only was Mussorgsky an alcoholic but he was very overweight, I believe 350 pounds.  I read stories of him passing out face down in the snow, and being rescued by his friend Rimsky-Korsakov many times.  He only lived for 42 years and I read he was buried in a piano crate. 

However the few works he left behind especially Pictures at an Exhibition and Night on Bald Mountain are pure genius and I could only guess what more he could have done if he were sober a little more often.

Another composer I would like to put forward: What if Paul Dukas was not such a perfectionist and had not destroyed many of his compositions due to dissatisfaction with them?   

Sometimes composers are to hard on themselves.  Take for instance Rachmaninov's Symphony No. 1 which he threw in the fire because he could get it the way he wanted it.  It's one of my favorite works of his.  I can only imagine what great works Dukas must have destroyed, I love the few works I have heard from his pen:  La Péri, The Sorcerer's Apprentice and his Symphony in C.

[ChamberNut]

Celibidache's Ring Cycle: 1340 minute opera anyone?

Available in this beautifully arranged 24 disc box set! 

[MISHUGINA]

- Bruckner's 9th symphony finale is finally "completed" (hint: somebody founds the pages that completes the coda)
- Karajan records Rach 2
- Hans Rott and Lili Boulanger continue to live 10 more years
- Celi records Threnody to Victims of Hiroshima  

[Renfield]

- Karajan records Rach 2

If you mean the 2nd Piano Concerto, he has recorded it, on CD for EMI, and on video (currently DVD) for Unitel, with Alexis Weissenberg.

(The might be one and the same version: I haven't cross-compared them. Certainly worth listening to, either way. )

[Re Mahler's 8th Symphony]

The master showed good sense not performing that monstrosity.  I wonder why he was not interested in Mahler 1 or Sibelius 3, on the other hand we have many fine recordings of those works.

"The master", if I recall correctly, was planning to tackle the 8th symphony - alias "that monstrosity" - as his next Mahler project, when he died.


As for a few of my what-ifs, what if Mahler had lived for another decade?

What if Bruckner had protected his manuscript of the 9th symphony, or better yet finished and published it?

What if Karajan had not died before the Berlin Wall fell, and had conducted Beethoven's 9th to commemorate the occasion instead of Bernstein?

What if Schubert had lived just a little longer, oh cruel world!?

Finally, what if Brahms had not fallen in love for Clara Schumann?

[Opus106]

What if...

...Schoenberg hadn't been born


...Bach had been an atheist

...there had been as many women composers as men

...Wagner had been a Jew

Good ones!

...Chopin had been a violinist instead of a pianist

Extremely boring?

[mc ukrneal]

What if...

The minute waltz actually lasted...just one minute!

Wagner had been gay.

Beethoven had not gone deaf.

[mc ukrneal]

Carlos Klieber - Beethoven 9

Karajan - Mahler 8

You get the idea. What are your great "What if's"

Ohhh ohhh. one more....

What if the gramophone/record player had been invented 100 years earlier?!?!? Imagine the riches...

[Diletante]

What if it were forbidden to veer off-topic on GMG? 

[Cato]

...Mozart and Beethoven were born in 1956 and 1970 respectively?

Would anybody notice?  Would they be posting comments here and pushing their compositions?     0:)