Mahler Mania, Rebooted

[Sergeant Rock]

Gustav Mahler – Symphony No.1 (Part 2)

Nice to see Judd get a mention. I just listened to clips of the Suitner. They sound marvelous. I must order it. I especially like the tempo of the second movement. I notice there's a Suitner recording of the Second also on Berlin Classics. Have you heard it?

Sarge

[jlaurson]

... I notice there's a Suitner recording of the Second also on Berlin Classics. Have you heard it?

Sarge

I have not, I'm afraid.

[jlaurson]

Today on WETA:

Mahler Month
9:06 am
Gustav Mahler
Symphony #6 in A Minor
Philadelphia Orchestra | Christoph Eschenbach (conductor)
Ondine 1084

(A little early for the 6th, if you ask me...)

Mahler Month
4:03 pm
Gustav Mahler
Das Lied von der Erde
San Francisco Symphony | Michael Tilson Thomas (conductor) | Stuart Skelton (tenor) | Thomas Hampson (baritone)
San Francisco Symphony 0019

Mahler Month
9:00 pm
Gustav Mahler
Symphony #8
Vienna Philharmonic | Leonard Bernstein (conductor) | Margaret Price (soprano) | Judith Blegen (soprano) | Gerti Zeumer (soprano) | Trudeliese Schmidt (alto) | Agnes Baltsa (also) | Kenneth Riegel (tenor) | Hermann Prey (baritone) | José van Dam (bass) | Vienna Singverein | Vienna Boys Choir | Vienna State Opera Chorus
DG 435.102

[Opus106]

Today on WETA:

Mahler Month
9:06 am
Gustav Mahler
Symphony #6 in A Minor
Philadelphia Orchestra | Christoph Eschenbach (conductor)
Ondine 1084

(A little early for the 6th, if you ask me...)

I'm not complaining. 0:) I'm looking forward to this.

[Opus106]

Today on WETA:

Mahler Month
9:06 am
Gustav Mahler
Symphony #6 in A Minor
Philadelphia Orchestra | Christoph Eschenbach (conductor)
Ondine 1084

(A little early for the 6th, if you ask me...)

Online Stream Downtime

The online Classical WETA "Listen Live" stream will not be available from approximately 10:00pm on Friday, November 6 until approximately 10:00am on Saturday, November 7 due to a planned power outtage. Thank you for your patience.

Say it ain't true.    

[jlaurson]

Say it ain't true.    

I was wondering why nothing was working, earlier today... crimmeny.

[Opus106]

I was wondering why nothing was working, earlier today... crimmeny.

Hey, it works! Listening on the Windows Media stream. A few minutes ago, there was NPR news and I thought it was "in place" of the classical one.

[Bogey]

I am going to try to hit this for the first time since my Mahler breakthrough.  Only about 40 minutes or so from the house:

http://www.mahlerfest.org/index.html

[Brahmsian]

I am going to try to hit this for the first time since my Mahler breakthrough.  Only about 40 minutes or so from the house:

http://www.mahlerfest.org/index.html

Wow, this looks like an awesome festival Bill!  Wish we had a yearly 'Mahlerfest'!

[jlaurson]

http://www.weta.org/fmblog/?p=1063

Gustav Mahler – Symphony No.2 (Part 1)




               

[Lilas Pastia]

Keep the reviews coming, Jens ! The Second has been long in becoming a favourite. I thoroughly disliked it for almost two decades ! Now I consider it one of his most original works. It may lack the sheer structural perfection of the 5th and 9th and the easy naturalness of the 4th, but in the right hands it's an unforgettable experience.

[Bogey]

Wow, this looks like an awesome festival Bill!  Wish we had a yearly 'Mahlerfest'!

I rolled out #3 today for three listens (just finishing up my third), Ray.  One of them was at the supermarket, as the Mrs. loathes grocery shopping, while I do not mind it.  Needless to say I ran into many other carts as my attention was not on the shopping.  I believe I will make Mahler part of my weekly shopping trip.  Mahler at the Market! 

It seems that close together repeat listenings have worked for me.  It was awesome for the 9th and this has been as enjoyable.

[Lethevich]

I'm currently listening to Mahler 7 via an unknown Scherchen recording (1h 9.5m, so probably not the Toronto one which is apparently 1h 5m). I should probably buy a CD of this conductor/piece combo, as the creaky orchestra, manic tempo changes and dodgy sound quality really underline the macabre and grotesque qualities of this symphony. It's strange - like seeing a horror film in black and white opposed to colour.

I am beginning to understand a little more of why I like this symphony so much, but even these new findings make me wonder whether the accusations of formal incoherence are objectively true. The first and final movements are fine - perhaps the finale may seem a little unusual given the greater weight Mahler places on his final movements in certain other symphonies, and this allowing for some emotional ambiguity in the 7th (which we cannot have, of course, everything must be tragic or happy or pointed out to us ).

Then the inner movements are just very strange. Not strictly in the odd nocturnal and chamber-like calm of the Nachtmusik movements, but in how large they are - getting towards the length of the opening and closing movements (depending on recording, I could imagine a conductor playing the Nachtmusik movements gently, but the opening and closing ones brisquely, bringing them even closer in length). Then there is the scherzo heart of the symphony, which is simply very small compared to the other movements.

The Nachtmusik movements simply do not work as interludes - they are too substantial, and then there is the question of whether dividing them with a scherzo actually works, or whether Mahler could've constructed the mother of all andante movements with them. While perfect in symmetry from the centre outwards, listening through the symphony does slightly feel as though you are getting lost in detours rather than travelling by the direct route - which could add to the disjointed, odd mood of the work and explain further why some still have difficulties with it. Those qualities also allow me to get lost in the work in a way I cannot with any other Mahler symphony. It's neat...

Also, hail Mahler as an insomina treatment. I'm not tired, but at least entertained.

[Renfield]

If you'll excuse the Americanism, I think you're on to something.

I've always considered Mahler's 7th a 'journey' symphony, the Nachtmusik coming and going like one's surroundings when you're lost, and trying not to be found: one moment you're in a park, then you're walking down an unfamiliar street, and so on. What leads me to this interpretation is the disjointed awe of the final movement, like finding something you didn't realise you were looking for; but your points about the middle movements' proportions compared to the whole might be an even better indicator of its 'getting lostness'.


(I somehow harbour the hope that one of those overlong-yet-strangely-elegant German words exists for 'getting lostness', ending in '-eit'. )

[jlaurson]

If you'll excuse the Americanism, I think you're on to something.

I've always considered Mahler's 7th a 'journey' symphony, the Nachtmusik coming and going like one's surroundings when you're lost, and trying not to be found: one moment you're in a park, then you're walking down an unfamiliar street, and so on. What leads me to this interpretation is the disjointed awe of the final movement, like finding something you didn't realise you were looking for; but your points about the middle movements' proportions compared to the whole might be an even better indicator of its 'getting lostness'.


(I somehow harbour the hope that one of those overlong-yet-strangely-elegant German words exists for 'getting lostness', ending in '-eit'. )

You mean Verlorenheitsgefühlsstimmung ?

[Renfield]

You mean Verlorenheitsgefühlsstimmung ?

[jlaurson]

http://www.weta.org/fmblog/?p=1090

Maybe I Do Love Mahler: The "International Cycle" on Classical WETA





Today begins the "International" of the three Gustav Mahler Symphony Cycles that Classical WETA plays as part of Mahler Month. Made up of some of my absolute favorite recordings—to the extend they were in print or available. It is, a Leonard Bernstein appearance in Das Lied von der Erde apart, a Western- and Central European cycle... although that is not to take away from the Aisan and Russian contributions to the Mahler discography, which I will touch upon in the accompanying articles published here, this month....

[not edward]

I'm currently listening to Mahler 7 via an unknown Scherchen recording (1h 9.5m, so probably not the Toronto one which is apparently 1h 5m). I should probably buy a CD of this conductor/piece combo, as the creaky orchestra, manic tempo changes and dodgy sound quality really underline the macabre and grotesque qualities of this symphony. It's strange - like seeing a horror film in black and white opposed to colour.

That is the Toronto one; which is 69 minutes. The VSO one is about 72, and the VSOO studio about 78.

Music and Arts should really reissue the Toronto recording; it's the most extreme of the three Scherchen recordings and is thusfar my favourite non-canonical approach to the symphony. I think we're so familiar with Mahler that we forget the value of music sounding dangerous (something I love in Scherchen's Haydn and Beethoven too).

[Lilas Pastia]

You mean Verlorenheitsgefühlsstimmung ?

Lets' see: verloren = lost, gefühl = feeling,  and stimmung =  mood. What's 'heits' standing for ?

I've always considered Mahler's 7th a 'journey' symphony,

Lethe, Renfield: You ARE on to something here: absolutely right ! The 7th is THE mahler 'journey' symphony. 

[Sergeant Rock]

Lets' see: verloren = lost, gefühl = feeling,  and stimmung =  mood. What's 'heits' standing for ?  

"Heit" tacked on the end of a word turns it into a noun: verloren is an adjective; Verlorenheit the noun. You would add s (heits) if you tack on another word like Jens did: Verlorenheitsgefühl.

Sarge