I would never claim to understand the bulk of Gustav Mahler's Works, or Life = there is way too much Complexity & high degree of achievement there, with incredible density and extraordinary quality of creative output, during his relatively short Life of only 50 years (brief by our modern standards).
Mahler seems like the Ultimate 'Overachiever' becoming the Top Conductor of his Day (in both Symphonic Music and especially Opera) meticulously memorizing hundreds of Classic Scores, then tirelessly 'working' himself, and his Orchestras to perform way above normal expectations, and beyond any traditional Limits extracting and generating mind-blowingly unprecedented concert performances, mainly to the waiting ears of hyper-critical Viennese audiences from over 100 Years ago.
Thru his incredibly complex & original Symphonic Works in which he literally tried to encapsulate our entire 'Living World,' ..... Mahler also expressed uncanny sensitivity & prescience creating music that seemed to predict the forthcoming tumultuous societal upheavals and destructive epochs of WW1 and WW2 (and even the holocaust).
Michael Tilson Thomas (aka MTT) definitely has both the artistic credibility and depth of experience conducting superlative Orchestras to Lead, educate, and inspire the viewer (and listener) toward a better understanding of Mahler's somewhat daunting & potentially intimidating Compositions (& tumultuous Life and times) especially since MTT has conducted and recorded the 'full cycle' of Mahler's Works to significant acclaim, with the San Francisco Symphony!
In this Mahler documentary, MTT seems to take special care to have the viewer 'enter into' Mahler's actual 'surroundings' and give us a taste of what it might have been like to grow-up and develop in his culturally cosmopolitan environment, near the heart of the Austro-Hungarian empire, in the Late 19th Century (with all the diverse musical 'influences' Mahler would have been exposed to there!)
MTT then roughly traces Mahler's professional life/ achievements, progressing thru the larger and better Opera Houses throughout Europe and beginning to make a name for himself as an exceptional conductor, then on to his initial forays into composing original Works of his own.
Onward to the significantly impactful courtship and marriage to the somewhat eternally unattainable 'Alma' who was an exceptionally gifted creative artist in her own right and the 'inspiration' to some of Mahler's finest compositions.
MTT takes us on a visit to Mahler's Summer cabin 'composer's cottage' in rural Austria (imbued with a contradictory combination of both the magically inspiring versus desperately forlorn/ heartbreaking overtones).
Later in life Mahler concentrated on Larger-scale compositions, with brief but significant time conducting in America then returning to Europe to encounter all-too-soon convergence with Death.......
This MTT 'Keeping Score' is most certainly Essential viewing for any Mahler fan, or anyone simply fascinated by Music composition and its historical development - Mahler representing a kind of creative Music culmination, just prior to its impending 'deconstruction' thru the exceedingly avant garde subsequent Works by Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Webern, Alban Berg et al
Huge gratitude to MTT and this invaluable Keeping Score documentary series = a very worthy successor to those Legendary Leonard Bernstein educational 'talks' and musical expositions, like the Great 'Unanswered Question' DVD series!
Note: I was very much intimidated and even a bit wary listening to Mahler's compositions at first, because they can be both tumultuous & Gigantic in scope with seeming intention to capture & project extreme emotional range and incredible density of orchestration (ie: overflowing to the brims and rafters, until almost ready to burst!). I am still intimidated by a number of them (like the 6th, 8th, and 3rd) I think a good place to start is with the more melodic and accesible (and bit more cohesive) Symphonies 5th, 7th, and 1st, the 9th is more difficult to fully comprehend but very rewarding if you make the effort to try!
Mahler seems like the Ultimate 'Overachiever' becoming the Top Conductor of his Day (in both Symphonic Music and especially Opera) meticulously memorizing hundreds of Classic Scores, then tirelessly 'working' himself, and his Orchestras to perform way above normal expectations, and beyond any traditional Limits extracting and generating mind-blowingly unprecedented concert performances, mainly to the waiting ears of hyper-critical Viennese audiences from over 100 Years ago.
Thru his incredibly complex & original Symphonic Works in which he literally tried to encapsulate our entire 'Living World,' ..... Mahler also expressed uncanny sensitivity & prescience creating music that seemed to predict the forthcoming tumultuous societal upheavals and destructive epochs of WW1 and WW2 (and even the holocaust).
Michael Tilson Thomas (aka MTT) definitely has both the artistic credibility and depth of experience conducting superlative Orchestras to Lead, educate, and inspire the viewer (and listener) toward a better understanding of Mahler's somewhat daunting & potentially intimidating Compositions (& tumultuous Life and times) especially since MTT has conducted and recorded the 'full cycle' of Mahler's Works to significant acclaim, with the San Francisco Symphony!
In this Mahler documentary, MTT seems to take special care to have the viewer 'enter into' Mahler's actual 'surroundings' and give us a taste of what it might have been like to grow-up and develop in his culturally cosmopolitan environment, near the heart of the Austro-Hungarian empire, in the Late 19th Century (with all the diverse musical 'influences' Mahler would have been exposed to there!)
MTT then roughly traces Mahler's professional life/ achievements, progressing thru the larger and better Opera Houses throughout Europe and beginning to make a name for himself as an exceptional conductor, then on to his initial forays into composing original Works of his own.
Onward to the significantly impactful courtship and marriage to the somewhat eternally unattainable 'Alma' who was an exceptionally gifted creative artist in her own right and the 'inspiration' to some of Mahler's finest compositions.
MTT takes us on a visit to Mahler's Summer cabin 'composer's cottage' in rural Austria (imbued with a contradictory combination of both the magically inspiring versus desperately forlorn/ heartbreaking overtones).
Later in life Mahler concentrated on Larger-scale compositions, with brief but significant time conducting in America then returning to Europe to encounter all-too-soon convergence with Death.......
This MTT 'Keeping Score' is most certainly Essential viewing for any Mahler fan, or anyone simply fascinated by Music composition and its historical development - Mahler representing a kind of creative Music culmination, just prior to its impending 'deconstruction' thru the exceedingly avant garde subsequent Works by Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Webern, Alban Berg et al
Huge gratitude to MTT and this invaluable Keeping Score documentary series = a very worthy successor to those Legendary Leonard Bernstein educational 'talks' and musical expositions, like the Great 'Unanswered Question' DVD series!
Note: I was very much intimidated and even a bit wary listening to Mahler's compositions at first, because they can be both tumultuous & Gigantic in scope with seeming intention to capture & project extreme emotional range and incredible density of orchestration (ie: overflowing to the brims and rafters, until almost ready to burst!). I am still intimidated by a number of them (like the 6th, 8th, and 3rd) I think a good place to start is with the more melodic and accesible (and bit more cohesive) Symphonies 5th, 7th, and 1st, the 9th is more difficult to fully comprehend but very rewarding if you make the effort to try!
