Mahler: Songs of Youth

Advantages: Embodies some of Mahlers most notable music qualities.
Disadvantages: Unfinished.

...--- OVERVIEW --- There is supersition that Beethoven died before completing his 10th symphony and so too would Mahler. This turned out to be true, at the age of 50 Mahler died from a serious illness. The different movements of his symphony were left unfinished and put aside for many years until in the 1960's a British musicoligist Deryck Cooke recreated them. To what influence Mr Cooke had over the final version I do not know, but nonetheless the music sounds like Mahler and is otherwise enchanting . --- MAHLER --- Nationality: Austrian Musical Period: Late-Romantic Born: 1860 Died: 1911 ' To write a symphony is, for me to construct a world' - Mahler Mahler Symphony No. 10 Tracks 01. Adagio 26:15 02. First scherzo 12:03 03. Purgatorio oder Inferno 04:30 04. Second scherzo 12:15 05. Finale... Read review

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Advantages: Varied movements, esp. 1st and 4th. One of Mahler's most popular works.
Disadvantages: 2nd movement a little weak.

...--- INTRODUCTION --- Mahler is classified as a late Romantic composer, producing dramatic scores with large differences in sounds and tone and utilizing many emotions ranging from tragedy and humour to love. Mahler's fourth symphony was first performed in Munich in 1901 and was/is one of Mahler's most popular works. It is described that this symphony was created during an 1899 holiday to the countryside where he would find peace and quiet. However for unknown reasons the tranquility he wanted wasn't present and he feared that the concentration he needed to compose may have left him. It wasn't until he had 10 days left of the trip that inspiration finally grasped him and out of this anxious period came one of Mahler's more happier pieces. Other priorities initially overtook him and it wasn't until his next excursion that he was able... Read review

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Advantages: A most powerful and unique work in the annals of music
Disadvantages: Will not appeal to the cutesy-cutesy people

...with his mood, proving that a piece of music does not always have to reflect a composer's life. This work was also preceded by the so called "Kindertodtenlieder," began in 1901 and finished in 1904. This collection of songs takes as its subject Rückert's poems depicting the death of children. His wife Alma, a very superstitious woman, was deeply troubled by her husband's seeming "tempting of Fate," something that at hindsight can be reflected in the future events of his life. She later wrote that the three hammer blows in the Finale of the Sixth Symphony were prophetic premonitions of the three blows of Fate that were to fall on Mahler in 1907. First his elder daughter died of scarlet fever, secondly Mahler was diagnosed with endocarditis that eventually ended his life in 1911, and thirdly, due to various intrigues in Vienna, he was forced... Read review

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