Just past 50th anniversary of big date in UK Mahleriana

[stillivor]

 I had been looking forward to it for months, then missed the big day.

20th march last was the 50th anniversary of the perfomance of M8 under Horenstein in the Royal Albert hall that played some part in the mahler revival from the end of the 50s.

Why the concert happened is amusing.

The BBC was reachng the end of its financial year and discovered it had underspent its music budget. So someone came up with the excellent wheeze of putting on a huge concert to spend the bounty. The result is on CD, and if the performance isn't perfect in every way, it has the merit that is mentioned in the Penguin Guide of the magnetism of a live and special occasion.

Horenstein was nervous because he had never conducted it before.

The BBC disc comes complete with audience eruption at the end.

I had contemplated attempting to put together a documentary about the occasion [I've never done such a thing,natch].

What I especially wanted [and want] to know was, given the relative unpopularity of Mahler at the time, how come the RAH was full, which = c.6000 people?


    Ivor

PS PU]ut this in admin by mistake.

[barry guerrero]

"given the relative unpopularity of Mahler at the time, how come the RAH was full, which = c.6000 people?"

But I thought that that was the point about Horenstein: that he had made Mahler popular in London. I agree that it's very good; among the best even.

[stillivor]

Ths for that.

I could be wrong but I didn't know Horenstein had such a following in the late 50s. And although there had been british performances of Mahler since his death, the big revival hadn't begun.

The music critic of the London Times, [Eric Blom, d.1959!], had said of Mahler, "We don't want his sort here."

That's why it's a surprise to me , in that context, that 6000 people turned up for M8. He was clearly, in an underground sort of way, more popular than programming, recording and the stance of critics would suggest.


    Ivor