Thomas Peattie's new book 'Gustav Mahler's Symphonic Landscapes' is an interesting, outside the box look at Mahler's music. He tackles Mahler from a theatrical point of you, calling his music 'absoluta operatica'. He goes into depth on Mahler's use of space and distance, both within the space of the stage and beyond. The Lumiere Brothers early film concerning a train ride informs his opinions on the finale of the 7th and it's jarring nature. Walking and wandering, both physically and the romantic ideal of walking/wandering are discussed in relation to 'Der Abscheid' from Das Lied von Der Erde. Cowbells, too. One must always talk about cowbells. The book is short, and quite dense. Peattie is either reaching or really looking outside the box. One thing I did really like is that a lot of authors who write about Mahler place him in this idealized romantic middle Europe, when that is really not the case.
Topic: Thomas Peattie-Gustav Mahler's Symphonic Landscapes (Read 6548 times)