Jump to content

Gustav Mahler


-pops-
 Share

Recommended Posts

I am very curious about the reason andsome have adopted a portrait of Mahler as his signature.

N.B I am a fan of Mahler as well. I remember attending a very moving concert at the Concertgebouw featuring Symphony No 8 (nickname Symphony of a Thousand) in which there were actually 1,000 performers.

(just in case someone thinks that you can't have 1,000 performers performing, well you can :D )

Link to comment
Share on other sites

(just in case someone thinks that you can't have 1,000 performers performing, well you canĀ  )

Now that's what I like about classical music. There is more than a 3 chord guitar player, a drummer who can barely keep a beat and a singer with a voice that makes your cry.

I love the way the music flows together, and every instrument has it's part. I am, however, a big fan of metal bands, like Slipknot, but classical does something for me no other music can.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So that's who it is. I thought it was Ernest Ackroyd. Who? Well read on.

Bradford has given the world Delius, J. B. Priestly, David Hockney and enough woollen cloth to satisfy most of it's needs. But before all these it gave us Ernest Ackroyd, one of the greatest poets of his day . Who can forget the haunting images conjured up by his verse

I wandered lonely as a cow,

that chews on grass o'er dale and hill,

when all at once I saw a crowd,

a host of tourists standing still.

Most of us tend to think of another poet, unjustly more famous than Ackroyd, when this verse is read, but the truth of the matter is that it is just another case of plagiarism, for which the more famous poet ( whose name we shall not speak ) was quite infamous.

Many of Ackroyds verses were classics of their day, and still are. What is there to compare to

There was a young man of Dundee,

who got stung on the leg by a wasp.

When asked," Does it hurt?"

he said," No not a bit,

it can do it again if it likes."

Another incomparable work is

The parish pump is broken

it squeals at half past three

the rusty water that comes out

is not quite fit for beer

Yet another is

Broken glass

broken galss

broken lagss

broken ssalg

Yoik

Indeed a veritable genius. He continued ceaselessly pouring out his conceptual abstractions until the day he was certified and locked up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pops, in my opinion Mahler is THE greatest composer the world has ever seen. Last summer I attended Symphony Hall in Birmingham for a performance of his Symphony number 8. It was conducted by Simon Rattle. The orchestra was well over 100 strong. The choir extended right back up to the organists back, and occupied every side balcony to the ceiling, and also about one third of the downstairs stalls area. There were possibly almost as many performers as audience. The orchestra was The national Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, with choirs drawn from all over the world. Three weeks after the performance the whole cast performed the same work at the proms, and it was later broadcast on TV, you may have seen it. Mahler's music is at times so moving that I am not ashamed to admit that I frequently feel so emotional when listening to it, that I shed more than a couple of tears. I feel so sorry for people who cannot experience the sheer pleasure that I do from such greatness.

I don't know if you are familiar with Gilbert Kaplan, a billionaire American publisher, who has made a life time study of Mahler with particular reference to The second symphony, 'The Resurrection'. He is of the opinion that no one performs it exactly how Mahler intended it to be performed. He is an extremely talented amateur musician. He wanted to show how it should be preformed, and to this end he hired a hall and full orchestra and choir and put on a performance. It received such critical acclaim that since then he has been invited to perform the work at dozens of venues all over the world. I attended his performance in Symphony Hall, and bought the CD.

Click here

Link to comment
Share on other sites

andsome

Yes, I am familiar with Gilbert Kaplan and the Resurrection Symphony although I've not heard him live.

I know what you mean about emotional aspect of his (Mahler's) work and I have the same reaction as you. I also rate Wagner in a similar, but lesser way.

My first love, though, is Bach, Haydn, Handel. Although I am an atheist, there is nothing that gets my musical emotions going more that one of the great religious oratorios - The Creation for example. On a lesser scale, the superb chamber music of Bach takes some beating.

My experience of the Mahler 8 was many years ago when the Concertgebouw was in great danger of sinking into the sand that Amsterdam is built on and the concert was organised to raise money to put the building on stilts. von Karajan was conducting the Berlin Phil., the Vienna Phil, the Concertgebouw orchestra and choirs from all over Europe. Something I could never forget.

I heard Simon Rattle's version on the radio, I think.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a little trouble getting into Haydn, Handel and Bach, although I do love Bach's organ music. I am much more into, apart from Mahler, Sibelius, Shostakovitch, Wagner, Puccini, Verdi, Chopin, Liszt, Howard Hanson, Nielson, Tchaikovsky, and Dave Brubeck.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

He thinks classical music is a 'gay thing' ?

What a strange point of view.

A lot of the classical composers would be considered sexual athletes these days having rampant love affairs with numerous women and producing children prodigiously.

Yes, there were composers who would fit within the definition but, remember that the term "homosexual" is of fairly modern origin to fit in with the current social structure and only came into use in the late 19th century. Prior to that, sexuality not defined and all sexual activity was something of a free for all.

In the list of composers given in andsome's reply, I think only Tchaikovsky would be classed as homosexual and that would be mainly because the word or definition was contemporary with him becoming well known.

Anyway, don't be disparaging about gays. The whole of the entertainment, travel and fashion industries and a huge amount of the modern social culture would be untenable if the gay content were removed.

Gays are all around you. There is no obligation to be a mincing queen to be gay.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Anyone who thinks that classical music is only for older people should try watching the proms. Go on I dare you, you will be surprised at how many young people attend the concerts. Anyone can just bang their head up and down with a beat, but at least give it a try and listen to some real music.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a little trouble getting into Haydn

I think this is what Tankus was joking about, nothing really to do with Classical music, just different senses of humour.

I'm sure he'll correct me if I'm wrong :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. Privacy Policy