Pre-Monday Mahler
January 13th, 2008 Posted in mahler
While down South in the wild tundra of South Carolina, drinking barrel after bottle of booze, I discovered that my great Aunt is a huge classical music fan. In fact, the room I was staying in (which was dubbed Cinema 1 due to the presence of all the audiovisual type gadgetry, and furnishings for intake of their output) included amongst its eaves and soffits the entire DG-branded Ring cycle on VHS. Euggh VHS. Had it been on DVD I could have cunningly ripped it to my laptop, instead it’ll have to wait to be Netflixed.
The more stealable, cultural, classical materials were the collection of Mahler symphonies conducted by Bernstein. These bad boys. Apparently, everyone thinks they are fantastic recordings of the symphonies. I nabbed the 5th and 6th (based on recommendations from aforementioned great Aunt Laura, and Alex Ross)
Mahler is someone who I have wanted to get into for ages, mostly because Shostakovich is supposed to be sort of his heir. The problem I have had with his music up to this point is its Romantic tendencies, it’s always sounded a bit too sweeping, too rich. I haven’t really given it a fair chance though, to be honest, haven’t tried to let itself get all up in my head via repeat listens despite the difficulties. Tragically ignoring my own listening advice. That’s in the process of changing, with this recent theft.
The sixth seems to be more intriguing than anything else of his I’ve tried so far, the marchy beginning certainly kicks arse. Plus there’s a big hammer lurking in there somewhere. It’s also really cool how the start of the scherzo mirrors the start of the first movement. As you can probably tell, I haven’t had much time to absorb it yet. I’ll let you know how it goes.
January 13th, 2008 at 11:18 pm
I’m so excited that you’ve decided to give Mahler another chance. I found it completely overwhelming the first time I heard a complete symphony (5, I think) but now, I can’t live without it.
It’s the intricacies that make up the mammoth whole that make it so great for me. I love No.4 and No.2 and….well, ok, all the others too.
Can’t wait to hear more of what you think. If at all possible, go hear a live concert. The way the piece takes you in can’t really be replicated on CD, even with a supergood stereo.
January 14th, 2008 at 4:51 am
I came to Shosti through Mahler, so you might show that it’s very much possible the other way around too.
(then again, I’m a romantic at heart)
Take your time though. I know I needed it (and still need it) for Shosti.
January 14th, 2008 at 8:08 am
Mahler was one of the first major composers I listened to. I have yet to find the money for the complete symphonies, but I love the 2nd.
See it live, for sure. When I saw the 2nd live I had a headache going into the 5th movement. It is intense music. But it is also beautiful. The 4th movement of that same symphony is lovely.
It would be hard to chose between Mahler’s 2nd and Beethoven’s 9th if I needed a “favorite symphony”.
January 14th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
There is romanticism in GM for sure, but what is characteristic of him is the irony and sheer intelligence, which people who hate romanticism might like. But if you don’t like emotion flooding out of your music, you probably won’t go for him.
He was also able to sneak in a protest against such things as anti-Semitism now and then. One of my favorite things about him is in the slow movement of the first symphony, the Frere Jacques theme played by nasty-sounding basses. This might not mean much to you until you learn (something that I only found out about relatively recently) that that song was originally an anti-Semitic one. “Brother Jacob,” the story goes, was sleeping while the bells rang because he was a Jew, sleeping in on Sunday morning while all the good Christian folks were summoned to church by the bells. No wonder Mahler satirizes the song, and follows it with very klezmer-sounding music.
January 14th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
Hi everyone,
Thanks for all the great comments! It seems like Mahler is a favorite composer of many of you; seems like it’s well about time I got into him myself. I shall definitely keep you updated on how the listening goes…
Ben
January 14th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
For help with the Shostakovitch -> Mahler transition, get the Bernstein recording of Mahler 9. The last movement should do the trick. If not that, then the middle two will resonate with the Shostakovitch dance movements.
January 16th, 2008 at 5:27 am
I would avoid Bernstein’s Mahler, since you were already averse to Mahler because of his perceived “romanticism” (a tag I find odd for a composer so admired by modernists like Schoenberg, Berg, Webern, Maderna, and Boulez, to name just a few). Bernstein tends to exaggerate any aspect of Mahler that plays into that “romanticism” label (in fact his recordings of mahler are probably a big reason for the “romanticism” perception). Certainly there are aspects of Mahler that are tinged with romanticism, but of a kind transformed by his simultaneous “modernism”. Worse, however, is that Bernstein has also taken the occasionaly liberty, both in live perfomances and on his recordings to add notes to Mahler’s scores where he wants to inflate the emotionalistic impact (adding extra percussion to the Finale of the First Symphony, for example). This is just plain unacceptable.
If you want more reliable interpretations, unblemished by Bernstein’s histrionic personality, there is a plethora of good conductors to choose from. Here are a few I would recommend for each symphony (not necessarily in rank order, just some of my fave conductors for each symphony):
1st: Kubelik, Boulez, Gielen
2nd: Klemperer, Boulez, Abbado
3rd: Haitink, Chailly
4th: Haitink, Abbado, Szell
5th: Barbirolli, Gielen, Barshai, Chailly
6th: Barbirolli, Boulez, Abbado, Gielen
7th: Gielen, Tilson-Thomas, Abbado
8th: Gielen, Solti, Boulez
9th: Barbirolli, Klemperer, Abbado, Haitink, Boulez, Gielen, Chailly
10th (Cooke performing edition): Gielen, Rattle, Barshai, Sanderling
Das Lied von der Erde: Walter, Klemperer, Horenstein, Boulez,