@Bukowski I never came across that. In my youth I hoovered up any Mahleriana I came across - he was, and still is, my favourite composer. The Adagio from the fifthis rightly well-known, but I think, among the slow movements of the symphonies, this is about as great. I wanted to post the spooky Scherzo from the 7th, but couldn' find a version by Abbado. Strange as his 7th with the Chicago S.O.is widely regarded as the best.
@Bukowski Ha! I remember HATING that bit of the film (well, I disliked all of it, really - not a patch on the stageplay), but at the time I was VERY protective about GM and hated the idea of a love of his music being a short-cut to pretension. Don't worry - I've got over this. I can even make Mahler jokes myself. Well, maybe...
@antonywaltjarv The quote is an attempt to crystallise the general cultural post 1945 attack upon Modernism. I regard Mahler as the Miles Davis of the 19th Century; his music always has a new twist of depth regardless of the amount of times one hears the piece.
@Bukowski I've always been fascinated by the timing of his rediscovery. 'My time will come' he said, and boy did it! It's as if he was suddenly needed in a world trying to make sense of 2 world wars and full of anxiety about 'how should we feel'? Schoenberg/Berg/Webern just made people feel worse but Mahler (without whom the other 3 would've been very different) seemed to explain people's neuroses and make them seem forgivable - attractive, even. He's a cusp artist - straddling 2 centuries and 2
@Bukowski ....artistic worlds - that of Wagner and Brahms, and the new daring Vienna sound. Do you know the 10th? I love it, but I know some people wont countenance it. The Deryck Cooke version is just sublime (ideally Eugene Ormandy)
11 Comments (since 21 Jan 2014)
Bukowski
"Changing my religion is the same as changing my shirt." (paraphrase)
antonywaltjarv
@Bukowski Did Mahler say that?
Bukowski
@antonywaltjarv He said it just after 'changing' from Judaism to Catholicism in order to secure a Court patronage.
antonywaltjarv
@Bukowski I never came across that. In my youth I hoovered up any Mahleriana I came across - he was, and still is, my favourite composer. The Adagio from the fifthis rightly well-known, but I think, among the slow movements of the symphonies, this is about as great. I wanted to post the spooky Scherzo from the 7th, but couldn' find a version by Abbado. Strange as his 7th with the Chicago S.O.is widely regarded as the best.
Bukowski
@antonywaltjarv "Wouldn't you just die without Mahler." ('Educating Rita') A composer who never ceases to challenge me.
antonywaltjarv
@Bukowski Ha! I remember HATING that bit of the film (well, I disliked all of it, really - not a patch on the stageplay), but at the time I was VERY protective about GM and hated the idea of a love of his music being a short-cut to pretension. Don't worry - I've got over this. I can even make Mahler jokes myself. Well, maybe...
Bukowski
@antonywaltjarv The quote is an attempt to crystallise the general cultural post 1945 attack upon Modernism. I regard Mahler as the Miles Davis of the 19th Century; his music always has a new twist of depth regardless of the amount of times one hears the piece.
antonywaltjarv
@Bukowski I've always been fascinated by the timing of his rediscovery. 'My time will come' he said, and boy did it! It's as if he was suddenly needed in a world trying to make sense of 2 world wars and full of anxiety about 'how should we feel'? Schoenberg/Berg/Webern just made people feel worse but Mahler (without whom the other 3 would've been very different) seemed to explain people's neuroses and make them seem forgivable - attractive, even. He's a cusp artist - straddling 2 centuries and 2
antonywaltjarv
@Bukowski ....artistic worlds - that of Wagner and Brahms, and the new daring Vienna sound. Do you know the 10th? I love it, but I know some people wont countenance it. The Deryck Cooke version is just sublime (ideally Eugene Ormandy)
Bukowski
@antonywaltjarv Beautifully put. (I shall investigate the 10th)
Axol
Lovely - thanks.