Gustav Mahler - Auferstehung

What do you all think of the Magic Flute ... ?

Originally posted by Shallow Blue
This is very true, but it doesn't hurt to have your tastes prodded at every now and then. Who knows, you might unexpectedly find something you like - maybe I will buy a Bax symphony CD if I come across it. And if I listen to something I thought I didn't like, and it turns out that I was right all along, well, I've lost an hour and gained some kno ...[text shortened]... And it still leaves more than enough time to visit the V&A and the Courtauld.

Richard

You're fortunate to get the travel in. I like to go to the library and get a thick book on Art. I do not know much about different artists. And like music there are so many gems that you may see only once and awhile.

Originally posted by Bosse de Nage
What do you all think of the Magic Flute ... ?

Well, I may never have sat through an entire opera.

My exposure to the overture of the Mozart's Magic Flute came in my teen years. I think I had already a few Haydn symphonies and my father bought some old favorite Mozart overtures to add to my collection.

So I know this crisp vintage classical overture from my youth. I like the overture. And the selections from the opera I have heard I liked.

I think the very first piece I heard by Mozart was a fine performance and recording of his clarinet concerto, I think played by Jazz clarinetist Benny Goodman.

Since classical style was much easier for me to grasp in my elementary school days, this sounded to me extremely finely conceived.

Probably the next Mozart I got to know was the "Little Night Music" - I will not attempt the authentic German title.

Something like "I'm Inclined to Knock Music?" LOL. That's humor !

What else do you want to know about Mozart ? I like the quartets. I like the symphonies 35,40, 34, 25, 41 as the old war horses. But for some reason I never had the passion to know all of Mozart's symphonies the way I just HAD to hear as many Haydn symphonies as possible. Around here they are ALWAYS .... ALWAYS Playing Mozart every other five or six selections on the Radio.

Perhaps one day, I'll go back and explore the early Mozart symphonies.

Originally posted by jaywill
You're fortunate to get the travel in.

Not recently, unfortunately, I haven't. But London is one of those cities which just seem to suit me, so I go back there every now and then, if I can - which I haven't, of late.

Richard

Originally posted by Bosse de Nage
What do you all think of the Magic Flute ... ?

Great Mozart fan, in particular his works in G minor! Don' know why, but they just hit the spot - Symphony No 40, String Quintet in G minor et al. I have been to The Magic Flute once, many years ago, and I found it quite unfathomable! Very symbolic, lots of references to freemasonry, quite a dry work, not like his other operas. Queen of the Night aria, with it's amazing top F, leaves me cold.

Originally posted by Pianoman1
Great Mozart fan, in particular his works in G minor! Don' know why, but they just hit the spot - Symphony No 40, String Quintet in G minor et al. I have been to The Magic Flute once, many years ago, and I found it quite unfathomable! Very symbolic, lots of references to freemasonry, quite a dry work, not like his other operas. Queen of the Night aria, with it's amazing top F, leaves me cold.

Pianoman1,

I am having a short piano composition performed in our local composer's forum spring concert tomorrow.

Do you tackle any piano works of Alexander Scriabin ? Since you seem to have an interest in mysticism I thought you might. Or am I wrong about your interest in mysticism ?

Originally posted by jaywill
Pianoman1,

I am having a short piano composition performed in our local composer's forum spring concert tomorrow.

Do you tackle any piano works of Alexander Scriabin ? Since you seem to have an interest in mysticism I thought you might. Or am I wrong about your interest in mysticism ?

Yes, I am very interested in mysticism, but I regret I have never seriously tackled the works of Scriabin. I find them very difficult (!) and I have never been able to satisfactorily get behind the man. I love his Poem of Ecstasy, and some of his Etudes are gorgeous harmonically, but, to put it bluntly, my technique is not fully up to them!

Now, your piano piece interest me. Would you be able to email a PDF. version to me (nickquiney@aol.com)? Thanks.

Nick

Originally posted by Pianoman1
Yes, I am very interested in mysticism, but I regret I have never seriously tackled the works of Scriabin. I find them very difficult (!) and I have never been able to satisfactorily get behind the man. I love his Poem of Ecstasy, and some of his Etudes are gorgeous harmonically, but, to put it bluntly, my technique is not fully up to them!

Now, your p ...[text shortened]... terest me. Would you be able to email a PDF. version to me (nickquiney@aol.com)? Thanks.

Nick

Okay. Email will come this week.

In the meantime -

Actually it is Wild Bull - electronic music by Morton Subotnick

YouTube&feature=fvwrel

Originally posted by jaywill
If you have never sat through a Mahler symphony I encourage you to hear as a sample the [b]Resurrection Symphony #2.

Here's are samples of its powerful conclusion. First with a short discussion from conductor Simon Rattle. Second without discussion and a longer final movement segment (a more substantial build up).

Third with Leonard Bernstien. S ...[text shortened]... so to Mahler's 8th Symphony

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raop0hwX2fw&feature=related[/b]

Indeed the poetry is secular:

"When Mahler took up his appointment at the Hamburg Opera in 1891, he found the other important conductor there to be Hans von Bülow, who was in charge of the city's symphony concerts. Bülow, not known for his generosity, was impressed by Mahler. His support was not diminished by his failure to like or understand Totenfeier when Mahler played it for him on the piano. Bülow told Mahler that Totenfeier made Tristan und Isolde sound to him like a Haydn symphony. As Bülow's health worsened, Mahler substituted for him. Bülow's death in 1894 greatly affected Mahler. At the funeral, Mahler heard a setting of Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock's Die Auferstehung (The Resurrection). "It struck me like lightning, this thing," he wrote to conductor Anton Seidl, "and everything was revealed to me clear and plain." Mahler used the first two verses of Klopstock's hymn, then added verses of his own that dealt more explicitly with redemption and resurrection.[3] He finished the finale and revised the orchestration of the first movement in 1894, then inserted the song Urlicht (Primal Light) as the penultimate movement. This song was probably written in 1892 or 1893."

All you Mahler lovers out there try finding recordings with Bruno Walter, a Mahler pupil and considered by many the quintessential Mahlerian!

Originally posted by Bosse de Nage
What do you all think of the Magic Flute ... ?

One of Mozart's masterworks! Sublime comes to mind, but the fact that Beethoven preferred it over Mozart's other operas is a ringing endorsement indeed! I just saw it recently for the umpteenth time and it never grows old.

Glad to see how many here admire Mahler. In my book, he ranks up there with Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Verdi, and Wagner.

Originally posted by Aldan
Glad to see how many here admire Mahler. In my book, he ranks up there with Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Verdi, and Wagner.

It really all depends on who you ask. Many find Mahler garrulous, others find him sublime. To me he is a cross between both camps. I love Mahler, but do not think he reaches the level of the other greats, especially not Wagner, whom he somewhat imitated. I do love many Mahler works for long car trips, especially Das Lied von der Erde, a work written in the white heat of creative passion and possibly his masterwork.

Originally posted by scacchipazzo
It really all depends on who you ask. Many find Mahler garrulous, others find him sublime. To me he is a cross between both camps. I love Mahler, but do not think he reaches the level of the other greats, especially not Wagner, whom he somewhat imitated. I do love many Mahler works for long car trips, especially Das Lied von der Erde, a work written in the white heat of creative passion and possibly his masterwork.

Mahler was a tortured soul. Unlike Bruckner, his near contemporary, he had never found God. His works resonate with spiritual and emotional restlessness. "Das Lied Von der Erde" is a case in point. I love the haunting melancholy, the angst, the existential void of the piece, but it is not a work that would appeal to balanced people!!

Originally posted by Pianoman1
Mahler was a tortured soul. Unlike Bruckner, his near contemporary, he had never found God. His works resonate with spiritual and emotional restlessness. "Das Lied Von der Erde" is a case in point. I love the haunting melancholy, the angst, the existential void of the piece, but it is not a work that would appeal to balanced people!!

Then consider me unbalanced if you will. I came late to classical after only exploring the tuneful works excerpted for commercials, movies and such. I willed myself to learn more and worked y way up to more complex works. I finally found a book at the local library referencing only the masterworks of various composers. Das Lied von der Erde was highly recommended. I purchased it and listened to it over several thousand miles of a very long car trip. Magically the mood always seemed to fit the weather. I was smitten by its strange harmonies, even stranger lyrics and the torturous melodies unlike anything I had heard before. I marveled that such a composer could never muster up an opera or two despite his gift for the dramatic and his wonderful witty orchestration. I never quibble with a composer's religious views unless completely abhorrent. Berlioz was by far the nuttiest composer who ever lived and was a drug addict to boot. IN spite of this I adore Berlioz, the proto-Wagner. But I digress. Mahler was indeed troubled, but I like him just the same. Bruckner is also quite wonderful. But does any of these approximate the genius of Brahms? Misanthropic Brahms gifted us with so many wonderful works. Mahler did as well. I never look gift horse in the religious teeth in spite of being a believer.