response 1 of 40:

Jan 25 14:57 UTC 1994

I've heard parts or all of all of his symphonies at one time
or another, along with his song cycles.  The only live performance
of his music I can remember hearing was Bernstein conducting
the 9th symphony many years ago in Springfield, Massachusetts.
After much applause, he came out and conducted a suite from
"Carmen" as an encore, which is something he liked to do when
he took the NY Phil out to the provinces.  I will never forget
the feeling of elation I experienced when the first brilliant
notes of the Bizet burst out, after the interminable boredom
of the Mahler symphony.

I only have three Mahler recordings: the 5th, 6th and 8th
symphonies.  Also, I have the score of the 5th and have followed
it through a couple of times.  I sense a lot of depth in Mahler.
His music wasn't dashed off between conducting jobs, it's the
product of deep meditation and tremendous labor.  But for some
reason, it doesn't hold my attention or offer anything that
makes me want to listen to except out of sheer duty.

response 3 of 40:

Jan 28 16:49 UTC 1994

Ah, Mahler.  For all the enthusiasm with which I've touted Mahler's
Ninth you'd probably think I know his entire canon, but I don't.
I've heard bits of most on the radio, own two CDs, and have never 
heard a live performance.  From what I've read of the man he 
tended to write music that mirrored whatever was happening with
his life at the moment.  Most composers probably do this to some
extent but with Mahler it was almost a diary.  He was always seeking
answers to unanswerable questions; he was obsessive and neurotic
at a time when being obsessive and neurotic wasn't fashionable.

The two symphonies I have on CD, the Fifth and the Ninth, are quite
different in tone.  The Fifth to me is something akin to the teenager 
who doesn't have time to ponder life's mistakes as there is simply
to much to experience.  The Ninth is the old man trying to come
to terms with not having enough time to make make sense of the mistakes
and use of his experience.

The Ninth is simply the most profound symphony I've ever heard.
Someone once described the ending as the closest music has ever
been to silence.  It is peace.  

One of these days I really should get over to the library and
check out some of his other symphonies and give them a fair audience.
This item might just be the needed push.

response 5 of 40:

Jan 28 21:43 UTC 1994

Actually, I hold a fondness for Frere Jacques as it was the first
tune I learned on the cello.  And if it wasn't for that piece I 
wouldn't know any French at all.

Mahler's 8th would probably play much better in performance
than on a recording.  Something as bombastic as that piece 
needs others senses to lend it authenticity.  Pay your fifty
bucks, spend 2 hours watching a conductor try to keep that
mob together, feel the vibration, lose control of the volume,
and get caught up in the audience's appreciation.  

Then you go to an afterglow with the Baquettes where you sip
some frothy coffee beverage and all discuss how that babe of
a concertmaster nearly fell out of her strapless dress during  
the final movement.  Now that's Mahler's Eight. ;-)

And yes, I would like to hear more about the Baquettes and 
the Gildersteins.  Please.

response 7 of 40:

Feb 4 20:22 UTC 1994

Re Maler's 1st, I have a real soft spot for this one, and don't ask me why,
because it's sure not high-brow stuff, but black bread and potatoes music.
The third movement (the aforementioned slow movement) is certainly more than
a setting of Frere Jacques in d-minor, among other things it turns into a
klezmer fest at several points.

response 9 of 40:

Feb 24 13:55 UTC 1994

Hope you enjoy it.  I was thinking of you yesterday as I was
listening to Nielsen's 5th Symphony.  Are you familiar with
any of Carl Nielsen's music?  The 5th Symphony sounds like
something a Mahler fan might enjoy, especially the second
(and final) movement.  It has lots of characteristically
Nielsenoid stuff in it, and one passage that might almost be
a deliberate parody of Brahms, but the middle and later
sections sound Mahlerian to me.

response 11 of 40:

Apr 7 21:16 UTC 1994

The current BBC Music magazine has a nice article comparing various
performances of Mahler's 9th symphony.  The reviewer picks Claudio
Abbado as the best, and the Mahler Youth Orchestra as the second
best.  Have you heard either of them, chelsea?

response 13 of 40:

Apr 11 13:46 UTC 1994

I don't recall what the reviewer had to say about Karajan.
Karajan seems to be sliding out of fashion lately, which I
guess is what you expect after a conductor dies.  I've always
preferred Karajan's recordings of Beethoven, Brahms and
Sibelius to any others.  Especially Brahms -- I was brought up
on Toscanini, and I'll never forget the forst time I heard
a Karajan performance of Brahms's 1st symphony.  "first"

I wouldn't know how to read Usenet news if my life depended on it.

response 15 of 40:

Apr 11 14:39 UTC 1994

What's a shell prompt?  Like, a picture of a seashell or something?

response 17 of 40:

Apr 12 02:18 UTC 1994

 A shell prompt is something like grex% (for csh) or $ (for tcsh) or
anything other than the OK: prompt. You might want to put a ! bang
before the rn thus !rn so it will run the news program.

 Herbert Von Karijan is a fine conducter, and I don't know a lot 
about classical. I only know what I like, it it is him.

response 19 of 40:

Feb 25 13:58 UTC 1995

ENVY!  You must be walking two feet off the ground after
that experience.

response 21 of 40:

Mar 5 19:23 UTC 1995

The current BBC Music magazine has a cover story about
Pierre Boulez turning seventy this year (which I find
pretty alarming).  Turns out Boulez has a contract to 
record Mahler's 6th, 7th and 9th symphonies.  People who
have heard him conduct the 7th are making some extreme
claims - all that bathos and schmaltz in Mahler is put
there by well-meaning conductors, not by Gustav Mahler.
We'll see.  If anyone can turn on to Mahler, it's Pierre
Boulez.  The very fact that he's conducting Mahler already
makes me want to go out and fill in my Mahler symphonies
on CD, starting with 6, 7 and 9.  If I still don't like
Mahler after listening to the new Boulez recordings when
they come out, I'll just give up.

[In the BBC Music interview, Boulez has some tart comments
about Gorecki's 3rd.  If he's capable of that, says Boulez,
his commitment to modernism was neither effective nor sincere.
"But look," he adds, "I understand Gorecki made enough money
on the Third to buy a new Mercedes.  So at least he got a
nice new car out of it."]

response 23 of 40:

Mar 28 15:05 UTC 1995

And the ninth?  What of the ninth?  (I guess you can spot my
favorite.)