Mahler in the Guardian!
(Guardian News and Media Limited)
The following article appeared at guardian.co.uk, on Sunday, 10 January 2010
Big bang theory: Discovering Mahler
How did Mahler go from being a byword for excess to the composer every orchestra wants to perform? On the 150th anniversary of his birth, Tom Service of the Guardian explores the passions that powered his music.
“I didn’t like Mahler when I first heard his music. Actually, that’s an understatement. I remember staring up at the conductor Neeme Järvi from my seat in Glasgow’s City Halls, and in an exquisite torture of boredom and frustration, offering up a 12-year-old’s prayer to make him and the Scottish National Orchestra stop the appalling racket of the First Symphony…”
To read the rest of the article, go to:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/jan/10/gustav-mahler-150th-birth-anniversary
Here are some extracts of Mahler Symphony performances; see how you like them:
Symphony #2:
Symphony #5:
Symphony #7:
Your comments are invited below