Find Yourself Here

[Amphissa]

For most here, the odds are poor. But there is always hope. There is always hope.

http://inkpot.com/concert/mahleria.html

[barry guerrero]

I'm at least three or four of those. I'm certainly "know-it-all" and "seen-it-all". So, HERE I AM in the living cyber-flesh; hear me roar!

Worse yet, I've got five stars! 

Barry

[John Kim]

But I listen to Sibelius and Beethoven a lot and still my disease is not cured   Or, I don't want to be cured   

John,

[john haueisen]

If Mahleria is an illness, then are not also wisdom, culture, a thirst for knowledge, and a desire to experience life to the fullest?
If Mahleria is a disease, then I refuse to be cured!
JH

[Amphissa]

If Mahleria is an illness, then are not also wisdom, culture, a thirst for knowledge, and a desire to experience life to the fullest?
JH

Obsession with one composer (Mahler) = wisdom, culture, thirst for knowledge and living life to the fullest? Uh, no.

Being obsessed with Mahler is like being obsessed with Tolkein's Ring trilogy, reading no other author, just reading the Ring trilogy over and over and over, except maybe a brief diversion to read something that someone said was similar, or looking up something Tolkein may have drawn upon to create his grand mythology, going to festivals dressed as Gandalf (or Frodo if you are short), reading every word of every book written about Tolkein, hanging LotR posters on the wall, eating elf bread, etc.

Or being obsessed with Ingmar Bergman films, rarely watching any other movies made by anyone else except maybe to see a film or director who influenced Bergman or to see one of his favorite actors appear in another movie, etc, etc, etc.

I am cured. I no longer suffer from Mahleria.

[Jot N. Tittle]

Aw, c'mon 'phissa.

I think you stretch John 's appreciation of Mahler too far.

After all, aren't there varieties of the Mahleria strain?

     . & '

[alpsman]

Also there exists some other new discovered deseases as the serious "Medical and Global diseases Review" observes, in his last issue:

Barockiosa insulfitis

Pianofortitida nervosa

Melomania netrebka  and some more.

DR.Alpsman.

[john haueisen]

Obsession with one composer (Mahler) = wisdom, culture, thirst for knowledge and living life to the fullest? Uh, no.

C'mon, Amphissa, at least admit that a strong interest in Mahler (obsession?) is not a bad start on the road to wisdom, culture, a thirst for knowledge and living life to the fullest.

There are many other activities far less constructive than wishing to know more and more about Mahler.
JH

[sperlsco]

Barockiosa insulfitis

DR.Alpsman.

If this were spelled "Barack"iosa, I would consider it as a healthful cure for many of our national and international ailments.  BTW, the man spreading that cure will be at a dinner at my bosses house this evening.  I'm hoping to squeeze out an invitiation, even if it means being part of the event staff.   

[stillivor]

very amusing and didn't hurt a bit to read.

Nice to fin I have touches of some. I think passion is a good thing; a sense of humour about mahler even better. i suspect Gus would have been amused, too.

There are other composers, of course, like.....................er............like.................er.....well so I'm told, anyway.

And I have a Netrebka thing, tho had no idea it was a skin condition.     


    Ivor

[Amphissa]

 
 
Hey guys, you know I love Mahler's music or I wouldn't be here.

There is nothing wrong with knowing a great deal about Mahler.

Some years ago, I got interested in fine wines. I encountered the world of wine geeks. They are obsessed with wine. For them, all things revolve around wine -- food exists to accompany wine (and as an excuse to gather to drink wine). The only books they read pertain in some way to wine. They argue about the nuances of wine, the ratings of wines, etc. They love to try new wines, and write extensive tasting notes describing the wine, comparing it to other wines of the same variety. There is the cult of wine makers, the pilgrimages to wine growing locations, the monthly and weekly events at which they gather to taste wines, festivals, conferences, journals, books, websites.

And wine geeks are extremely sociable. They participate in wine discussion groups online. They love to get together, taste wine, enjoy each others company. It is one of those activities that breaks down class barriers and crosses all job categories. In a wine discussion group or at a wine event, you'll have a banker next to a store clerk next to a shoe salesman next to a corporate administrator next to a nurse next to a professor ..... all talking about wine stuff, and in the process, developing friendships.

Wine geeks also have a sense of humor about themselves. They'll make fun of their own practices -- how to hold a wine glass, how to swirl the wine (without spilling), how to taste the wine with the full palate, and of course, the indelicate art of spitting.
http://blogs.phillyburbs.com/blog.php?p=32648&cat=228
http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1060599.html

Wine geeks are Mahlerians with purple teeth 

The point is, music, wine, literature, film, art, whatever -- we can take it seriously without taking ourselves too seriously. I love wine. And I still count my core tasting circle in San Francisco as my closest friends. And I learned a helluva lot about wine. Really good wine. For a few years, I took it too seriously.

But now I'm a recovered wine geek, just as I'm cured of Mahleria. I still love wine, and on special occasions, a special wine is a required element of the celebration. And I know that I would never have developed my ability to appreciate that wine if I had not become a wine geek for awhile.

Much the same with Mahler. I got really drawn into the whole Mahler thing. It was great. I learned a lot about Mahler and it led me to other music as well. Now that I've recovered from my Mahleria, I can appreciate Mahler much more than the average joe. And my Mahler friends remain kindred spirits. I still hang out on the Mahler discussion boards. 

But my music diet is much more varied now, just as my wine appreciation is broader.

As the great Shel Silverstein once sang (paraphrase) -- When you been eating nothing but steak for a long time, beans taste real fine.
 
 

[john haueisen]

Well-said, Amphissa!
But despite my many other interests, Mahleria will continue to be one of my core values.
After listening to the many colors with which Mahler paints, (I realize that to many this will sound like heresy, but) even Mozart and Beethoven sound like they were just sketching with pen and ink.
(Oh no, now all the folks who prefer string quartets will be up in arms.)

JH

[Amphissa]

 
Indeed, Mahler is such a richly rewarding composer. But I've also been having fun discovering composers that have been largely forgotten. Some were immensely popular and well regarded even into the 20th century, but with the continuing constriction of the concert repertoire, they have been lost. Composers like Paderewski, who was more popular than Rachmaninoff in Europe, Martucci, who was the first Italian not to write operas, who was Respighi's teacher and in my opinion, even better in many ways than his pupil, and Rufinatscha, who was the great symphonist between Beethoven and Brahms, and of course Myaskovsky, the forgotten Russian, whose 27 symphonies represent one of the great treasures of the awful Soviet era.

And I would suggest that there is as much depth in Bach's suites for solo cello, such transcendent mystery and beauty of form, that he matches Mahler in that regard, with but one instrument.

M9 remains among my favorite symphonies by any composer of any time, and I enjoy many other of his symphonies as well. But I also love Brahms' 1st, Rachmaninoff's 1st, Dvorak's 9th, Gliere's 3rd, etc. And I probably appreciate Mahler more within the broader context of all that came before him and all that has come since.

And to your side comment, I really wish he had been more diverse, more prolific. I wonder what a mature Mahler string quartet or concerto would sound like. It's fun to try to imagine.