| biography |
Within
his symphonies, Mahler gives voice to the stark contradictions of
human experience
by Thomas May
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) reportedly once observed that for him,
writing a symphony meant "creating an entire world with all the
technical means available." However hyperbolic such a claim may
sound, Mahler's legacy bears out the enormous scope of his vision.
He expanded the symphony into an all-inclusive whole that could
embrace the high and the low. In Mahler's music you will hear
the remembered innocence of childhood together with the deep wisdom
of the philosopher; excesses of sentimentality and the lover's
passion; violent human despair face to face with the sublimity
of nature; the thirst for transcendence and the peaceful acceptance
of death--all coexisting in brilliantly imagined collages of sound.
And while the works of Mahler are on one level intensely personal--a
sort of aural autobiography--knowledge of the individual experiences
that lie behind them is by no means necessary for a listener to
be moved. This is music so intensely lived that the different
states of mind it evokes acquire a universal resonance, or at
least one wrenchingly relevant to a century so fraught with contradictions.
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| recommended
recordings |
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Mahler:
Symphonie no 1, Lieder / Kubelik, Fischer-Dieskau
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Composer:
Gustav
Mahler
Conductor: Rafael
Kubelik
Performer: Dietrich
Fischer-Dieskau
Ensemble: Bavarian
Radio Symphony Orchestra
Uni/Deutsche Grammophon - #449735 / May 13, 1997
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here for more information |
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Here's a delightful coupling: Mahler's First Symphony and
the song cycle that donated many of its themes to the larger
work. Best of all, both performances are superb. Rafael Kubelik
is the dark horse among Mahler conductors. His interpretations
are always fresh, unforced, and seemingly without exaggeration.
However, he knows how to build a climax, and his generally
swift tempos never permit a minute's boredom. There are many
moments to cherish in his performance of the symphony, not
least the...Read
more
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Mahler:
Symphonie no 5 / Bernstein, Wiener Philharmoniker
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Composer:
Gustav
Mahler
Conductor: Leonard
Bernstein
Ensemble: Vienna
Philharmonic Orchestra
Uni/Deutsche Grammophon - #23608 / August 8, 1988
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here for more information |
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Mahler's Fifth was one of the pieces Leonard Bernstein owned.
This interpretation is broader than the one he recorded with
the New York Philharmonic in the early 1960s, but it's little
changed in feeling. It is, however, far more polished and
a good deal more persuasive. The recording, like all of Bernstein's
later Mahler cycle, was made live; here, he and the Vienna
Philharmonic give a gripping performance full of telling nuance,
intensely expressive yet thoroughly controlled. It's a reading...Read
more
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Karajan
Gold - Mahler: Symphony no 9 / Berlin Philharmonic
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Composer:
Gustav
Mahler
Conductor: Herbert
von Karajan
Ensemble: Berlin
Philharmonic Orchestra
Uni/Deutsche Grammophon - #39024 / October 11, 1994
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here for more information |
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Herbert von Karajan's Gustav Mahler performances were highly
variable, and he recorded the Ninth only a few years before
this live version came out. That performance was so-so, and
featured a spectacular missed entrance in the third movement
that somehow made it onto the master tape. Very embarrassing
indeed. So it's no surprise that von Karajan wanted to do
it again, and this time he really got it right. This is one
of the great Ninths: stunning playing, an interpretation of
real emotional...Read
more
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Mahler:
Das Lied von der Erde /Klemperer, Ludwig, Wunderlich
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Composer:
Gustav
Mahler
Conductor: Otto
Klemperer
Performer: Christa
Ludwig, Fritz
Wunderlich
Ensemble: New
Philharmonia Orchestra, Philharmonia
Orchestra
Emd/Emi Classics - #66944 / January 12, 1999
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here for more information |
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Mahler considered The Song of the Earth his most personal
work, and indeed it is one of his greatest and most moving.
Its six sections, sung alternately by the mezzo-soprano and
tenor, are set to seven poems from The Chinese Flute,
a collection of Chinese lyrics translated into German by Hans
Bethge, which echo Mahler's love of nature and contrast the
earth's renewal each spring with the transience of human life.
Composed after he lost his beloved 4-year-old daughter and
was diagnosed with a...Read
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| works
& recordings |
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- Das
Lied von der Erde
- Das
Lied von der Erde: Der Abschied
- Das
Lied von der Erde: Der Einsame im Herbst
- Das
Lied von der Erde: Der Trunkene im Frühling
- Das
Lied von der Erde: Von der Schšnheit
- Das
klagende Lied
- Des
Knaben Wunderhorn
- Des
Knaben Wunderhorn: Excerpt(s)
- Des
Knaben Wunderhorn: no 1, Der Schildwache Nachtlied
- Des
Knaben Wunderhorn: no 10, Lob des hohen Verstandes
- Des
Knaben Wunderhorn: no 11, Es sungen drei Engel
- Des
Knaben Wunderhorn: no 12, Urlicht
- Des
Knaben Wunderhorn: no 13, Revelge
- Des
Knaben Wunderhorn: no 14, Der Tamboursg'sell
- Des
Knaben Wunderhorn: no 2, Verlor'ne Müh
- Des
Knaben Wunderhorn: no 3, Trost im Unglück
- Des
Knaben Wunderhorn: no 4, Wer hat dies Liedlein erdacht?
- Des
Knaben Wunderhorn: no 5, Das irdische Leben
- Des
Knaben Wunderhorn: no 6, Des Antonius von Padua
- Des
Knaben Wunderhorn: no 7, Rheinlegendchen
- Des
Knaben Wunderhorn: no 8, Lied des Verfolgten im Turm
- Des
Knaben Wunderhorn: no 9, Wo die schšnen Trompeten blasen
- Kindertotenlieder
- Kindertotenlieder:
In diesem wetter, in diesem braus
- Kindertotenlieder:
Nun will die Sonn' so hell aufgeh'n
- Kindertotenlieder:
Oft denk' ich, sie sind nur ausgegangen
- Kindertotenlieder:
Wenn dein Mütterlein
- Lied(er)
- Lieder
eines fahrenden Gesellen
- Lieder
eines fahrenden Gesellen: Excerpt(s)
- Lieder
eines fahrenden Gesellen: no 1, Wenn mein Schatz Hochzeit macht
- Lieder
eines fahrenden Gesellen: no 2, Ging heut' morgens übers
Feld
- Lieder
eines fahrenden Gesellen: no 4, Die zwei blauen Augen
- Lieder
und Gesänge aus der Jugendzeit
- Lieder
und Gesänge, vol 1: no 1, Frühlingsmorgen
- Lieder
und Gesänge, vol 1: no 2, Erinnerung
- Lieder
und Gesänge, vol 1: no 3, Hans und Grethe
- Lieder
und Gesänge, vol 1: no 4, Serenade aus Don Juan
- Lieder
und Gesänge, vol 1: no 5, Phantasie aus Don Juan
- Lieder
und Gesänge, vol 2: no 1, Um schlimme Kinder artig zu machen
- Lieder
und Gesänge, vol 2: no 2, Ich ging mit Lust
- Lieder
und Gesänge, vol 2: no 3, Aus! Aus!
- Lieder
und Gesänge, vol 2: no 4, Starke Einbildungskraft
- Lieder
und Gesänge, vol 3: no 1, Zu Strassburg
- Lieder
und Gesänge, vol 3: no 2, Ablšsung im Sommer
- Lieder
und Gesänge, vol 3: no 3, Scheiden and Meiden
- Lieder
und Gesänge, vol 3: no 4, Nicht wiedersehen!
- Lieder
und Gesänge, vol 3: no 5, Selbstgefühl
- Quartet
for Piano and Strings in A minor
- Rückert
Lieder (5)
- Rückert
Lieder (5): Excerpt(s)
- Rückert
Lieder (5): no 1, Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder
- Rückert
Lieder (5): no 2, Ich atmet' einen Linden Duft
- Rückert
Lieder (5): no 3, Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen
- Rückert
Lieder (5): no 4, Um Mitternacht
- Rückert
Lieder (5): no 5, Liebst du um Schšnheit
- Songs
(3): no 1, Im Lenz
- Songs
(3): no 2, Winterlied
- Suite
from Orchestral works of JS Bach
- Sym
no 1 in D "Titan": 3rd movement, Feierlich und gemessen
- Symphony
no 1 in D major "Titan"
- Symphony
no 1 in D major "Titan": 1st movement, Langsam schleppend
- Symphony
no 1 in D major "Titan": 2nd movement, Kräftig bewegt
- Symphony
no 1 in D major "Titan": 4th movement, Stürmisch bewegt
- Symphony
no 1 in D major "Titan": Blumine
- Symphony
no 1 in D major "Titan": Excerpt(s)
- Symphony
no 10 in F sharp minor/major
- Symphony
no 10 in F sharp minor/major: 1st movement, Adagio
- Symphony
no 10 in f#/F#: 3rd movement, Purgatorio
- Symphony
no 10 in f#/F#: Excerpt(s)
- Symphony
no 2 in C minor "Resurrection"
- Symphony
no 2 in C minor "Resurrection": 1st movement, Todtenfeier
- Symphony
no 2 in C minor "Resurrection": 2nd movement, Andante moderato
- Symphony
no 2 in C minor "Resurrection": 4th movement, Urlicht
- Symphony
no 2 in C minor "Resurrection": 5th movement, O glaube, mein
Herz
- Symphony
no 2 in C minor "Resurrection": Excerpt(s)
- Symphony
no 3 in D minor
- Symphony
no 3 in D minor: 2nd movement, Tempo di Minuetto
- Symphony
no 3 in D minor: 4th movement, Sehr langsam "Misterioso"
- Symphony
no 3 in D minor: 5th movement, Adagio
- Symphony
no 3 in D minor: Excerpt(s)
- Symphony
no 4 in G major
- Symphony
no 4 in G major: 3rd movement, Ruhevoll
- Symphony
no 4 in G major: 4th movement "Das himmlische Leben"
- Symphony
no 5 in C sharp minor
- Symphony
no 5 in C sharp minor: 1st movement "Trauermarsch"
- Symphony
no 5 in C sharp minor: 4th movement, Adagietto
- Symphony
no 5 in C sharp minor: 4th movement, Adagietto - Excerpt(s)
- Symphony
no 5 in C sharp minor: Excerpt(s)
- Symphony
no 6 in A minor "Tragic"
- Symphony
no 6 in A minor "Tragic": 2nd movement, Scherzo
- Symphony
no 6 in A minor "Tragic": 3rd movement, Andante moderato
- Symphony
no 6 in A minor "Tragic": Excerpt(s)
- Symphony
no 7 in E minor
- Symphony
no 7 in E minor: Excerpt(s)
- Symphony
no 7 in E minor: Nachtmusik I, Allegro moderato
- Symphony
no 8 in E flat major "Symphony of A Thousand"
- Symphony
no 8 in E flat major "Symphony of A Thousand": Alles Vergängliche
ist nur ein Gleichnis
- Symphony
no 8 in E flat major "Symphony of A Thousand": Excerpt(s)
- Symphony
no 8 in E flat major "Symphony of A Thousand": Part 1
- Symphony
no 8 in E flat major "Symphony of A Thousand": Part 2 - Excerpt(s)
- Symphony
no 9 in D major
- Symphony
no 9 in D major: Excerpt(s)
- Symphony
no 2 in C minor "Resurrection": 3rd movement, In ruhig fliessender
Bewegung
- Das
Lied von der Erde: Von der Jugend
- Lieder
eines fahrenden Gesellen: no 3, Ich hab' ein glühend Messer
- Sym
no 6 in a "Tragic": 1st movement, Allegro non troppo...
- Symphony
no 1 in D major "Titan": 3rd movement, Feierlich und gemessen
- Symphony
no 7 in E minor: 3rd movement, Scherzo
Complete
List of Works and Recordings
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