What did you have to hear to become a Mahlerite?

[john haueisen]

Soon after I discovered M2, I began very deliberately, to seek out all the other Mahler symphonies.
After M1 and M2, though not for chronological reasons, I came to appreciate M3.

To this day M3 is my "lost on a desert island" favorite, because as Mahler himself suggested, it seems a symphony that contains the entire universe.  Yes, going with the program, I appreciate the history of life:  evolution, plants, animals, man, angels, and what heaven tells me, but I also like the encapsulation in the posthorn serenade, of a nostalgia for a departed friend.  I am so appreciative that Mahler combined music with words, to thus produce works of art that transcend the limitations of music or language alone.  And you notice that Mahler turned to diverse instruments and sound-producing devices, as well as diverse word subjects, to better give voices to his message.

JH

[Dave H]

Mahler 2 with Stokowski on RCA--read a NY Time review, bought it, and was blown away. Then I realized later how fast and loose he was playing with the score, but I still love bits of it. Then Mahler 1 and 3 with Horenstein. No. 1 has held up pretty well, No. 3 now strikes me as very stiff and approximate, and both have missing timpani parts in their first movements (go figure)--but it was these differences, back when I was 11 or 12, that let me to start comparing recordings and checking out scores to see what the composer wrote as compared to what the performers were doing. That was a real eye-opener!

Dave H

[Damfino]

Following is what I wrote in the old thread about discovering Mahler:

"I cannot say that, upon hearing a Mahler work for the first time, I was immediately hooked on Mahler.  For me, Mahler was an acquired taste, and it took some time for me to get accustomed to his music.

I first heard Mahler in the mid 70's when I bought Bruno Walter's Columbia Odyssey recording of the 9th.  I read the liner notes, and found Mahler's story touching, and the music poignant.  However, I did not pursue any of the other symphonies.

In college a year later, one of my roommates was heavily into Mahler, and had most of the Haitink recordings.  I could not get interested in them.  I found the "Brüder Martin" march in Symphony No.1 to be ridiculous (though I liked the first movement).   I found it odd that there was singing in so many of the symphonies, and some of the symphonies seemed too long.  I was particularly bothered by the fact that the first movement of No. 3 had to be split to two LP sides!  However, I later heard the early Columbia Bernstein recording of the 3rd on the radio one day during a long drive, and I found the symphony fascinating.  So, gradually, I began to acquire a taste for the rest of Mahler.  His polyphony had always sounded like cacophony to me, but eventually my ear began to appreciate all those sounds playing at the same time.

Eventually, I had another roommate who was also into classical music, who hated Mahler.  His objections were much like mine had been.  Eventually, something clicked for him as well, and another Mahler proselyte was born.

Just remember that when you play a Mahler symphony for some people, they may react negatively, but will hopefully warm to his music over time.  When my wife and I were married almost 20 years ago, she had never heard much Mahler, but over time has become quite a fan.  There are still a couple of symphonies she does not know terribly well, but now that her ear "gets" Mahler, she is usually open to all his music."

I would add that I responded positively to the 9th right away, because it seemed more "normal" as a symphony to me. The others seemed strange (more than 4 movements, singing, excessive length, etc), and took some time before they clicked with me. I eventually came to love all the symphonies with the exception of the 8th.

[stillivor]

Another thing to bear in mind (very briefly) is that there are orchestral musicians who have to play Mahler but aren't Mahlerites.

Might be amusing to discover which composer is disliked by the highest proportion of an orchestra.


  Ivor

[Polarius T]

One of my first concerts, I was 14-15 and completely blown away by the music and the sound. I got the recording of the work they made around the same time.

Fifteen?  Oh you lucky man Don, I envy you.  Ah well I was enchanted by Duke Ellington at that stage of my life!

Not too bad yourself, I'd say. At that point I was largely hooked on Ten Years After and Colosseum (for those who know them) (and I might even be predating that by a year or two), and only a couple of years ago arrived at Ellington, appreciating him that much more for it.

-PT

[Polarius T]

Abbado/VPO/DG M9th....an interesting trigger to make anybody a Mahler devotee. Yes, this was one of few first digital recordings I bought back in mid 80's and I was hooked on it for a while. The sound was amazingly spectacular with every instrument clearly audible (it was a very close-up recording). It still is.

What I was instantly floored by in that set was actually his stupendously beautiful M10 Adagio, and only later got to understand the multiple finesses of the M9 following it. It's a very impressive performance but even if I continue vacillating to this day I now esteem the later, somewhat more restrained BPO take even higher.

-PT

[Polarius T]

Nice and interesting responses.

Apropos John: I think if I had to spend the rest of my life listening to just one work over and over again (a little bit like the governor of the penal colony in Bioy-Casares' "Plan for Escape," who through neurosurgical means succeeded in transmutating his pain sensations into auditory sensations so that instead of experiencing pain, he would now forever hear the beginning of the first movement of Brahms IV...), it might be M3. It's so rich and large and inexhaustible in every way; just getting to know it completely could be a life's work. But I think it would have to be a live performance; I find it difficult to really reproduce this huge work in my living room.

Dave H: That Horenstein again... What seems clear at the very least is that he was someone with an uncanny ability to communicate (warts and all). (But then you'd have to believe there is something to communicate in music, too.)

Damfino: Your testimony too seems to speak for the ability of Mahler's music to live a "subterranean" life: take root unawares and surface later on, as an active interest and appreciation. That seems to happen quite often. (Actually, to me, too, in a way, but that's another story.) Your note on M9 is interesting: for me this is the most "extraordinary" or "different" one among M's works.

Ivor: I don't know, but basically all musicians I know pretty much prefer the standard fare: it's easy to play while letting you rehearse your whole repertory of conservatory skills to the max and get a bit of a sense of "blowing away" with the volume too. So, Tchaik and Sib and so forth is what they seem to like. (Brahms is too "dry" for them.) Not sure about Mahler here, or about Mahler appreciation across the different sections. I think professional orchestral musicians are a bit lazy and lackadaisiacal and very workmanlike as a lot. My sample is small and very likely unrepresentative though.

-PT

[Amphissa]

 
"What did you have to hear to become a Mahlerite?"

M10 Adagio. But then I heard M6 and was cured. 
 

[john haueisen]

Oh Amphissa, now I understand why you never have much good to say about M6.
I know what it is:  the marches.
Amphissa, you must just prefer to take things more slowly;  hence the M10 Adagio.
I can certainly understand it--that M10 adagio is quite beautiful, and for me it puts the icing on the cake for Mahler's love affair with life.
John H

[sbugala]

The fall I entered college, I really gravitated towards classical music. Typically, I'd thumb through a library's compact discs or LP's.  At my college's library, I stumbled upon some Mahler, specifically the Mahler Symphony No. 2.  I was intrigued that the library had two versions: Solti's LSO account, and Slatkin's SLSO account.  By co-incidence, I also checked out Carl Sagan's Cosmos, which in one episode uses part of the last movement.  The rest is history...