Waterstones Why Mahler
99 ratings
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Price: £12.99
Brand: Waterstones
Description: A century after his death, Gustav Mahler is the most important composer of modern times. Displacing Beethoven as a box-office draw, heard in Hollywood films and on state occasions, his music inspires particular devotion. Some believe it helps heal emotional wounds, others find intellectual fascination in its contradictory meanings, and many feel that the music captures the yearnings and anxieties of our post-industrial society. In this highly original account of the composer's life and work, Norman Lebrecht explores the Mahler Effect, asking why Mahler's music has become the soundtrack to our twenty-first-century lives. Waterstones Why Mahler - shop the best deal online on thebookbug.co.uk
Category: Books
Merchant: Waterstones
Product ID: 9780571260799
Delivery cost: 2.99
ISBN: 9780571260799
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Author: Gerald Cheshire
Rating: 5
Review: Why Mahler First of all I need to declare an interest; I too am a Mahler obsessive. I love his music; it often moves me to tears and I am fascinated by the man and his milieu. I also have all the `grumpy old man' traits which Norman Lebrecht sometimes exhibits. I hate it when people start clapping between movements of an orchestral work. The cacophony of coughing which accompanies all concerts in this country drives me wild. I had previously read Lebrecht's earlier more sketchy account of Mahler's life and works, Mahler Remembered, but his new treatment is far more detailed and must have taken an incredible amount of research to produce. However it is not a dry academic work and is infused without by Lebrecht's almost evangelical fervour about Mahler's music. The book contains a straightforward chronological account of Mahler's astonishing and tumultuous life which was so tragically ended at the early age of fifty-one years. There is also a detailed analysis of all of Mahler's prodigious output as well as an exhaustive examination of all of the available recordings of his music. Mr Lebrecht has performed an immense service to Mahler the man and all is wonderful music. As Mahler famously said `my time will come'; and so it has; the world needs Mahler and his music more than ever.
Author: Alexander Miller
Rating: 1
Review: As a huge fan of Mahler, I found some of the book of interest, but I'd find just about any book about Mahler of some interest and on the whole I have to say that I agree with the two reviewers who gave the book 1*. It was superficial throughout, and Lebrecht's name-dropping just plain irritating (sipping scotch with Lenny, climbed a hill with Klemperer's daughter, became close friends with Anna Mahler etc etc). Lebrecht's punchline just about typifies the whole book. Speaking of Mahler: "He urges us to see the bigger picture, to listen to the unsaid. He continues the conversation. He makes critics of us all". Why anyone thought this worth publishing is well beyond me. If you want to find out about Mahler, a great place to start is Stephen Johnson's excellent biography-plus-CD book from Naxos (which Lebrecht left out of his bibliography). I watched an otherwise very good DVD "In Search of Beethoven" recently, and there was someone called Lebrecht on who said that Beethoven's 9th was flawed! Was it the same guy?
