Classical Music Ping
Listening to Mahler’s music requires full attention and a lot of time. Doesn’t work for casual listening. ....for me, at least. But when I’m in the mood (which isn’t very often), it’s quite a ride.
Obama disagrees. He says it's about him.
I”m truly sorry - I saw the headline and my brain said “Maher and death” and I don’t need to explain why I clicked on this thread.
The old classic is Fischer-Dieskau and Schwartzkopf, but von Otter and Quasthoff do a great interpretation.
Sang in Symphony of a Thousand one time-directed by Ricardo Muti. A once in a lifetime experience.
Mahler’s Fifth is my favorite.
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I once heard that Mahler’s last word was “Mozart” as he lay quietly “conducting” with his index finger, in his bed.
I don’t know if that is true. But it is a touching story if it is.
Thinking about Mahler and listening to Mahler and knowing about his life makes me sad.
Perhaps the greatest nine symphonies ever (ok, 9.5). I know there is Beethoven and that is the easy answer. But Mahler....man. Amazing stuff.
What do you think of the Ken Russell film “Mahler”?
(I’ve seen only clips of it)
Loved Mahler as an angsty teen. Too depressing and self-indulgent now. Bruckner, OTOH....
I love Mahler...his work is never too long or boring as some like to say...I get lost in the power moods of his works..just what I want.
Mahler was also a gifted conductor as well. When Sergei Rachmaninoff premiered his monumentally epic Third Concerto in New York in 1909 Mahler was the conductor. Rachmaninoff remarked that few conductors would have given such care preparing the orchestra, (in this case the NY Phil), in some of the difficult and tricky accompaniment passages. And you just KNOW these two shook the rafters that night.
(One of the two premieres I would have loved to have been present at.)
I went through a stage when i would only listen to Mahler and Frank Zappa.
Ah, the silliness of youth! hahahahahaha
Played the Fith twice (my favorite) and the Forth.
Alma Schindler (Mahler, Gropius, Werfel). She was much more interesting a character than Gustav (but, not as talented).
A classic song about Alma Mahler by Tom Lehrer...Alma.
Material below from here.
Alma Mahler
Alma Mahler (August 31, 1879 - December 11, 1964), noted in her native Vienna for her beauty and intelligence, was the wife, successively, of one of the century's leading composers (Gustav Mahler), architects (Walter Gropius), and novelists (Franz Werfel). Her fascinating life reads like a Who's Who of early twentieth century Europe.
Born in Vienna, Austria to artist Emil Jakob Schindler and his wife Anna von Bergen, in a privileged environment. Her father's friends included Gustav Klimt, to whom she gave her "first kiss". As a young woman she had had a series of flirtations, including Klimt, director Max Burckhard and composer Alexander Zemlinsky. In 1902 she married Gustav Mahler, even though the composer was twenty years older than her. The terms of this marriage were that Alma would forego her own artistic interests in painting and music. Resenting this, Alma began an affair with the Bauhaus architect Walter Gropius: Mahler had a single consultation with Dr. Sigmund Freud as to the causes for his dissatisfied relationship. When Mahler died in 1911, Alma married Gropius.
The marriage was tumultuous. For two years, Alma had an affair with artist Oskar Kokoschka, who painted his Bride of the Wind to represent their love. Fearful of the passion he evoked in her, Alma left Kokoschka for novelist Franz Werfel, and even became pregnant - she thought by him - while still married to Gropius. She divorced Gropius and married Werfel in 1929, but the child, Martin, was born prematurely and died aged ten months.
Alma and Gropius's daughter, Manon, died of polio in 1935. Composer Alban Berg wrote his Violin Concerto in memory of her.
In 1938 Alma and Werfel were forced to flee Austria for France to escape the Anschluss. With the German invasion and occupation of France during World War II, and the deportation of Jews to the Nazis death camps, she and her husband had to flee France. With the assistance of the American journalist Varian Fry in Marseille, they escaped the Nazi regime via a riveting journey across the Pyrenees to Spain and from there to Portugal where they sailed to New York City. Eventually they settled in Los Angeles, where Werfel achieved a measure of success when his Song of Bernadette was made into a 1943 film starring Jennifer Jones. After Werfel's death in 1945, Alma moved back to New York where she was a major cultural figure until her death in 1964. Her much-married state is made sport of in Tom Lehrer's song Alma. Her life is recounted in the 2001 Bruce Beresford film Bride of the Wind.