Happy Halloween to everyone!
Last year at this time I was babbling on about what I think the best Halloween music is, so I need not do that again this year. I CAN point you to some free spooky music though, by a fine orchestra.
If you head to the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra's website, you can get a free iTunes download of Night on Bald Mountain, which is on their latest CD.
So if you are stuck at home tonight with nothing to do, you should at least download that. The CSO sounds good!
As for me, I'm getting ready to hear a cool group called Ensemble 48 improvise music to the silent film Nosferatu. Should be good stuff.
Happy Halloween!
Friday, October 31, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Bass videos
Last week I attended David Murray's recital, and asked him if I could videotape it, and he was more than cool about it. Bummer I didn't have a real video recorder of some sort---my camera would have to do for the evening. So, my apologies for poor video/sound quality.
But I caught some cool stuff nonetheless. The first is a duet, with Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra principal bassist Ju Fang Liu, and it's a pretty interesting piece by Tony Osborne.
And then of course, one of David's classics, Jon Deak's BB Wolf. Enjoy!
But I caught some cool stuff nonetheless. The first is a duet, with Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra principal bassist Ju Fang Liu, and it's a pretty interesting piece by Tony Osborne.
And then of course, one of David's classics, Jon Deak's BB Wolf. Enjoy!
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
5:30am
After a weekend of Mahler I have understandably been doing some extra drowning in more of his wonderful music, and as a part of that, been looking forward to the next Mahler events in November.
A friend of mine asked who was conducting the future Mahler concerts I am attending, and I couldn't remember, so just now I went to look them up (Haitink/Chicago, hooray!) and then saw that David Robertson is heading up the St. Louis Symphony for Mahler 9.
I didn't expect St. Louis to have anything else on the program--Mahler 9 is big enough by itself, and needs nothing else with it. Not that there's anything wrong with having something else on the program, yet I think you get what I mean.
But sure enough, Mozart piano concerto no. 19 is on it, and guess who is playing it?
Jeremy Denk.
It's 5:30am right now as I type this. It's been a long day (meaning the past 24 or so hours) and I am in quite a state already due to various circumstances/reasons that would probably put you to sleep or cause you to never read this blog again, so I'll spare you the drama. In this state I must tell you that I am extremely vulnerable and moved easily and delicate as a flower, and it should be no surprise to anyone who has been reading this blog long enough to know that when I saw Jeremy Denk is playing on a program that includes Mahler, I burst in to tears. Good grief. You would have thought someone told me my cat died or something (God forbid!) But no, just that my favorite pianist on the face of the earth is on a concert with the Mahler symphony that induces more tears than any other of his glorious symphonies (even 6!).
I kind of find it hard to do anything right now. I'm just kind of sitting in this state of shock, wondering what to do next. It's not like my house has crumbled, or my family all been swept away in a windstorm. No, none of that. Just a concert program, that's all.
Sometimes that's all it takes to undo people though. (people meaning me).
A friend of mine asked who was conducting the future Mahler concerts I am attending, and I couldn't remember, so just now I went to look them up (Haitink/Chicago, hooray!) and then saw that David Robertson is heading up the St. Louis Symphony for Mahler 9.
I didn't expect St. Louis to have anything else on the program--Mahler 9 is big enough by itself, and needs nothing else with it. Not that there's anything wrong with having something else on the program, yet I think you get what I mean.
But sure enough, Mozart piano concerto no. 19 is on it, and guess who is playing it?
Jeremy Denk.
It's 5:30am right now as I type this. It's been a long day (meaning the past 24 or so hours) and I am in quite a state already due to various circumstances/reasons that would probably put you to sleep or cause you to never read this blog again, so I'll spare you the drama. In this state I must tell you that I am extremely vulnerable and moved easily and delicate as a flower, and it should be no surprise to anyone who has been reading this blog long enough to know that when I saw Jeremy Denk is playing on a program that includes Mahler, I burst in to tears. Good grief. You would have thought someone told me my cat died or something (God forbid!) But no, just that my favorite pianist on the face of the earth is on a concert with the Mahler symphony that induces more tears than any other of his glorious symphonies (even 6!).
I kind of find it hard to do anything right now. I'm just kind of sitting in this state of shock, wondering what to do next. It's not like my house has crumbled, or my family all been swept away in a windstorm. No, none of that. Just a concert program, that's all.
Sometimes that's all it takes to undo people though. (people meaning me).
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Mahler Mondays: Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Recap
I have now had the pleasure of seeing Mahler symphony no. 2 TWICE in the state of Ohio---last year with the Cleveland Orchestra with Frankly Better than Most, and this past weekend I had the wonderful pleasure of hearing the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under the direction of probably the World's Biggest Mahler Fan, Gilbert Kaplan. To beat him for title of World's Biggest Mahler Fan, you'd probably have to not only leave your career to dive in to learning how to conduct Mahler, but leave your family, abandon friends, etc etc. It's pretty hard to top that guy.
But before I go on about him, lemme just say that my first Mahler concert of the 08-09 season was a success. My journey to Cincinnati was wonderful, and I left a very happy camper.
I got there early with my dear friend Elisabeth to see Gilbert Kaplan's multi-media presentation on Mahler. He essentially did an hour long history of Mahler through his symphonies, complete with a slide show of sorts and musical examples. The place was pretty packed, and we were lucky to get some seats close up. It was interesting to see all the pictures of Mahler (he was quite good looking, you must admit) and the caricatures and then bits of scores with his messy handwriting all over them. Each of the musical examples sent me in to fits of joy or sadness, and perhaps it was good that they were as short as they were. Kaplan went all the way through his life to his death, and when it came to the part about his death, the tears were a-flowin'. Oh man, hearing how Mahler suffered with such a high fever, in such a sick state with hardly any time left to live, and his 10th symphony playing in the background---recipe for me crying. Obese tears fell from my eyes slowly, and I thought that perhaps I was being ridiculous. Perhaps I am an over sentimental woman who gets moved a little too easily about this guy. But then I heard sniffing behind me, and looked around and two more people two rows behind me were all in tears, dabbing their eyes and blowing their noses, and I became very comfortable with my tears. You know, I often forget that I am not the only person moved by Mahler. It's very self centered of me to think that way too, and I hate that. I hate that I walk in to Mahler concerts thinking I'm the biggest Mahler fan, when little do I know how many other people cry freely over his music.
But enough of the mushy wushy stuff....let's get to the meat of it all...
Let's talk about the man of the evening (the man other than Mahler, of course): Gilbert Kaplan. I must say---my hat is off to that gentleman. He has my utmost respect and admiration. He became a conductor at great risk--he could have been laughed away. He could have ruined his reputation. He could have absolutely bombed, but he chose to take a RISK. There are many people who are in the kind of position where they CAN drop their job and go and pursue what they are truly passionate about, but how many people have the guts that it takes to do that? Gilbert Kaplan obviously does, and in spades. I respect him for that immensely. And as a result of his fanaticism, there are more Mahler fans out there! This man spreads his love for Mahler every where he goes! It was amazing backstage--everyone seemed in this Mahler frenzy of sorts. Mahler brings that out in people, doesn't he? Far more, in my opinion, than any other composer.
While I was backstage, I was enjoying this Mahler frenzy of sorts with Owen Lee, the Cincinnati Symphony's kick ass principal bassist.
He spoke about how when he was in LA, he and his friends would go to Mahler society meetings/gatherings, and people would have these crackly tapes of Bernstein with some orchestra that's a rare recording, and just eat it up. I mean, how awesome is that? I love that there are Mahler societies all over the place. I love that I travel around the country listening to his gorgeous music. And I love that Gilbert Kaplan left his job out of love for Mahler.
I was fortunate to see Maestro Kaplan backstage, and I stopped him to shake his hand, congratulate him, and also to tell him THANK YOU. I explained how I traveled around hearing Mahler symphonies and then blogged about them, and wouldn't you know it? He told me he knew about my blog! He said someone had sent him a link, and that he thought it was great that I was doing that. (does Gilbert Kaplan know about YOUR blog? Hmmm??) So you can imagine how chuffed I was about that...
I also got to talk to both the soloists, who were not only unbelievably kind, but freely told you with absolute sincerity how much Mahler 2 meant to them, and his music in general. They went on about how deep and personally his music touches people, and that left me thrilled. Soprano Janice Chandler-Eteme will be singing in Mahler 8 later this season with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and mezzo-soprano Christianne Stotijn is singing Mahler 2 again next month with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, which I'm really happy about. She has an incredible voice for Mahler. I was rather tickled to hear that her father and brother are bassists (she plays violin), and she spoke about how they too had a great love for Mahler.
Everywhere I turned Saturday night it was a straight up Mahler Love Festival. Everyone was gushing about the genius of Mahler, and I felt like I was in my element. It was such a joy to share with others about how kick ass Mahler is, and I could have talked with everyone all evening about how much I love Mahler. I'm sure I could have started up a conversation with some random stranger and gabbed for hours with them about Mahler.
But instead of a random stranger, I found an old pal from IU, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra's newest assistant conductor, Vince Lee.
At IU I was happy to sit under his conducting quite a few times, and I'm quite chuffed for him that he got this gig. It was great to do as much catching up and chatting as one can do in 15 minutes, and no doubt I'll talk to him as the year goes on.
So, I obviously did lots of schmoozing with cool people. It's nice to go to symphonies where I know people, like Vince, and it's great to get to meet fellow bassists like Owen Lee, and of course meet conductors. Last year when I went to the Cincy Symphony I went backstage to talk with composer John Adams and ended up wasting valuable time talking with a violist (it's ALWAYS a violist. Biggest time wasters in my life, I swear) and afterwards I kept saying "d'oh!" and regretting not meeting John Adams. I'm happy I spoke with Maestro Kaplan, even if it was brief.
The one minute (literally) I got with him was quasi-magical (for me at least) because I was speaking to a fellow Mahler fanatic. Now, I know I spoke to many other people who love Mahler a great deal, yet to be a fanatic you have to go a step further than just loving Mahler (this is all just my opinion by the way). It involves some sort of action on one's part, beyond just listening to Mahler and diggin' it. You could take a decent step in to fanaticism like me, and head all around the country to hear his music. Think about my trips: while I have been very fortunate to get free tickets to all the shows (save the Royal Concertgebouw last year in DC--I didn't even ask for tickets, I just bought mine for $50 or something), I have had to pay for all my travel. I drove to Minnesota last year to hear Symphony no. 9, and that was a 1200 mile round trip journey. PLUS damn tolls in Chicago. Not cheap. Then remember my little jaunt across the country? I was in Washington DC to hear Mahler 6 with the National Symphony Orchestra (and heard 5 the next day with the Royal Concertgebouw) and then 6 days later was in LA to hear the LA Philharmonic play Mahler 6. So, travel for those was rather pricey. I also went to Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Chicago for concerts too. I'm very fortunate that I had friends in almost all of those cities to stay with, so there was no cost for housing (I of course bought them gifts and/or took them out to dinner to thank them, along with giving them a ticket to the concert as well). All that adds up, needless to say. So, I've stepped out on a limb of sorts and rather than saving the money I spent on those trips (I'm coming up close on $1500 when you count airfare/gas, food, gifts for friends I stayed with, etc). However, if that is stepping out on a limb, Gilbert Kaplan steps out of the space station orbiting the earth. Seriously. The dude left his job to learn how to conduct Mahler because as he says, he went in to a Mahler 2 concert one person, and came out a completely different person. And Mahler is his job of sorts now---yet did you know that he does not accept a fee? Orchestras pay for his expenses, yet he won't accept a fee. He obviously does this out of utter love and passion, and in some small way, I feel like I can relate to him because of that. I want to meet other people traveling around for Mahler. Heck, I want to drop everything I'm doing and learn how to conduct Mahler 6! I'll totally admit to fantasizing about that. Call me a dork or whatever, but I have elaborate dreams about that. Unfortunately, I cannot drop everything and devote all my time to learning how to conduct Mahler 6, although that would be lovely. (if you are a famous conductor reading this and would like to donate your time to help me learn that piece, please contact me at mahlerowesmetenbucks at hotmail dot com. Thank you.)
Ahem, but anyway....I began to drift in to daydream land, sorry about that folks. Anyway, the point of all of this---Kaplan is a Mahler evangelizer! He is going out and telling people all about the amazingness of Mahler, and people are eating it up. You see why I have such respect for him? Because he spreads the Mahler love around, and that is something I wish all orchestras, all conductors, and all musicians would do. Oh how I wish Indy were a Mahler loving city. Alas though, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra hasn't played Mahler in 2 seasons now, and I heard a rumor that Mario Venzago is not the biggest fan of Mahler. And then there's the Indianapolis crowds---I hate to say it, but they aren't exactly open minded, and it frustrates me to no end. I have no choice but to drive to other cities to hear my beloved Mahler.
Oh, but it is worth it! It is worth it to spend all the money, to deal with being in the car for 1200 miles and flight delays and expensive parking and everything else so I can go through the ups and downs that one goes through while listening to Mahler and then leave the hall a complete emotional wreck (yet wanting to be absolutely nothing else) where I wonder if I should be driving because not only am I exhausted physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually, but it's now hard to see because of the tears mingling with my eye makeup and contacts.
What else can I say right now? I can't really. In my mind are all my Mahler memories from last year, and the wonderful ones that are happily swirling around in my brain from this past weekend. Playing right now is the last movement of Mahler 10, and I am so sad that Mahler died when he did. I am so sad I only have 10 symphonies (or 9.5 I guess) and a handful of songs to listen to. Not that it's not enough---it's actually more than one can digest really, because every work of his is like deep, traumatic surgery, like when you get a heart transplant. You can only have visitors a few times each week, they all have to wear face masks, no one can be sick around you, etc etc. That's what Mahler does---surgery on one's heart. So each symphony is like a surgery that hurts yet you are so happy you had it done and you look forward to the next one. Yet....yet you think of composers with huge outputs like Bach, and Vivaldi, and how I wish sometimes that Mahler had that kind of a body of work, so I could delve in to it.
Yet only a handful of their works (ok, maybe more than a handful of Bach's) reach the emotional depths that Mahler's does. So perhaps it's ok that Mahler didn't have that body of work. He had quality going for him--not the quantity.
He definitely had the quality though, down pat.
But before I go on about him, lemme just say that my first Mahler concert of the 08-09 season was a success. My journey to Cincinnati was wonderful, and I left a very happy camper.
I got there early with my dear friend Elisabeth to see Gilbert Kaplan's multi-media presentation on Mahler. He essentially did an hour long history of Mahler through his symphonies, complete with a slide show of sorts and musical examples. The place was pretty packed, and we were lucky to get some seats close up. It was interesting to see all the pictures of Mahler (he was quite good looking, you must admit) and the caricatures and then bits of scores with his messy handwriting all over them. Each of the musical examples sent me in to fits of joy or sadness, and perhaps it was good that they were as short as they were. Kaplan went all the way through his life to his death, and when it came to the part about his death, the tears were a-flowin'. Oh man, hearing how Mahler suffered with such a high fever, in such a sick state with hardly any time left to live, and his 10th symphony playing in the background---recipe for me crying. Obese tears fell from my eyes slowly, and I thought that perhaps I was being ridiculous. Perhaps I am an over sentimental woman who gets moved a little too easily about this guy. But then I heard sniffing behind me, and looked around and two more people two rows behind me were all in tears, dabbing their eyes and blowing their noses, and I became very comfortable with my tears. You know, I often forget that I am not the only person moved by Mahler. It's very self centered of me to think that way too, and I hate that. I hate that I walk in to Mahler concerts thinking I'm the biggest Mahler fan, when little do I know how many other people cry freely over his music.
But enough of the mushy wushy stuff....let's get to the meat of it all...
Let's talk about the man of the evening (the man other than Mahler, of course): Gilbert Kaplan. I must say---my hat is off to that gentleman. He has my utmost respect and admiration. He became a conductor at great risk--he could have been laughed away. He could have ruined his reputation. He could have absolutely bombed, but he chose to take a RISK. There are many people who are in the kind of position where they CAN drop their job and go and pursue what they are truly passionate about, but how many people have the guts that it takes to do that? Gilbert Kaplan obviously does, and in spades. I respect him for that immensely. And as a result of his fanaticism, there are more Mahler fans out there! This man spreads his love for Mahler every where he goes! It was amazing backstage--everyone seemed in this Mahler frenzy of sorts. Mahler brings that out in people, doesn't he? Far more, in my opinion, than any other composer.
While I was backstage, I was enjoying this Mahler frenzy of sorts with Owen Lee, the Cincinnati Symphony's kick ass principal bassist.
He spoke about how when he was in LA, he and his friends would go to Mahler society meetings/gatherings, and people would have these crackly tapes of Bernstein with some orchestra that's a rare recording, and just eat it up. I mean, how awesome is that? I love that there are Mahler societies all over the place. I love that I travel around the country listening to his gorgeous music. And I love that Gilbert Kaplan left his job out of love for Mahler.
I was fortunate to see Maestro Kaplan backstage, and I stopped him to shake his hand, congratulate him, and also to tell him THANK YOU. I explained how I traveled around hearing Mahler symphonies and then blogged about them, and wouldn't you know it? He told me he knew about my blog! He said someone had sent him a link, and that he thought it was great that I was doing that. (does Gilbert Kaplan know about YOUR blog? Hmmm??) So you can imagine how chuffed I was about that...
I also got to talk to both the soloists, who were not only unbelievably kind, but freely told you with absolute sincerity how much Mahler 2 meant to them, and his music in general. They went on about how deep and personally his music touches people, and that left me thrilled. Soprano Janice Chandler-Eteme will be singing in Mahler 8 later this season with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and mezzo-soprano Christianne Stotijn is singing Mahler 2 again next month with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, which I'm really happy about. She has an incredible voice for Mahler. I was rather tickled to hear that her father and brother are bassists (she plays violin), and she spoke about how they too had a great love for Mahler.
Everywhere I turned Saturday night it was a straight up Mahler Love Festival. Everyone was gushing about the genius of Mahler, and I felt like I was in my element. It was such a joy to share with others about how kick ass Mahler is, and I could have talked with everyone all evening about how much I love Mahler. I'm sure I could have started up a conversation with some random stranger and gabbed for hours with them about Mahler.
But instead of a random stranger, I found an old pal from IU, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra's newest assistant conductor, Vince Lee.
At IU I was happy to sit under his conducting quite a few times, and I'm quite chuffed for him that he got this gig. It was great to do as much catching up and chatting as one can do in 15 minutes, and no doubt I'll talk to him as the year goes on.
So, I obviously did lots of schmoozing with cool people. It's nice to go to symphonies where I know people, like Vince, and it's great to get to meet fellow bassists like Owen Lee, and of course meet conductors. Last year when I went to the Cincy Symphony I went backstage to talk with composer John Adams and ended up wasting valuable time talking with a violist (it's ALWAYS a violist. Biggest time wasters in my life, I swear) and afterwards I kept saying "d'oh!" and regretting not meeting John Adams. I'm happy I spoke with Maestro Kaplan, even if it was brief.
The one minute (literally) I got with him was quasi-magical (for me at least) because I was speaking to a fellow Mahler fanatic. Now, I know I spoke to many other people who love Mahler a great deal, yet to be a fanatic you have to go a step further than just loving Mahler (this is all just my opinion by the way). It involves some sort of action on one's part, beyond just listening to Mahler and diggin' it. You could take a decent step in to fanaticism like me, and head all around the country to hear his music. Think about my trips: while I have been very fortunate to get free tickets to all the shows (save the Royal Concertgebouw last year in DC--I didn't even ask for tickets, I just bought mine for $50 or something), I have had to pay for all my travel. I drove to Minnesota last year to hear Symphony no. 9, and that was a 1200 mile round trip journey. PLUS damn tolls in Chicago. Not cheap. Then remember my little jaunt across the country? I was in Washington DC to hear Mahler 6 with the National Symphony Orchestra (and heard 5 the next day with the Royal Concertgebouw) and then 6 days later was in LA to hear the LA Philharmonic play Mahler 6. So, travel for those was rather pricey. I also went to Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Chicago for concerts too. I'm very fortunate that I had friends in almost all of those cities to stay with, so there was no cost for housing (I of course bought them gifts and/or took them out to dinner to thank them, along with giving them a ticket to the concert as well). All that adds up, needless to say. So, I've stepped out on a limb of sorts and rather than saving the money I spent on those trips (I'm coming up close on $1500 when you count airfare/gas, food, gifts for friends I stayed with, etc). However, if that is stepping out on a limb, Gilbert Kaplan steps out of the space station orbiting the earth. Seriously. The dude left his job to learn how to conduct Mahler because as he says, he went in to a Mahler 2 concert one person, and came out a completely different person. And Mahler is his job of sorts now---yet did you know that he does not accept a fee? Orchestras pay for his expenses, yet he won't accept a fee. He obviously does this out of utter love and passion, and in some small way, I feel like I can relate to him because of that. I want to meet other people traveling around for Mahler. Heck, I want to drop everything I'm doing and learn how to conduct Mahler 6! I'll totally admit to fantasizing about that. Call me a dork or whatever, but I have elaborate dreams about that. Unfortunately, I cannot drop everything and devote all my time to learning how to conduct Mahler 6, although that would be lovely. (if you are a famous conductor reading this and would like to donate your time to help me learn that piece, please contact me at mahlerowesmetenbucks at hotmail dot com. Thank you.)
Ahem, but anyway....I began to drift in to daydream land, sorry about that folks. Anyway, the point of all of this---Kaplan is a Mahler evangelizer! He is going out and telling people all about the amazingness of Mahler, and people are eating it up. You see why I have such respect for him? Because he spreads the Mahler love around, and that is something I wish all orchestras, all conductors, and all musicians would do. Oh how I wish Indy were a Mahler loving city. Alas though, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra hasn't played Mahler in 2 seasons now, and I heard a rumor that Mario Venzago is not the biggest fan of Mahler. And then there's the Indianapolis crowds---I hate to say it, but they aren't exactly open minded, and it frustrates me to no end. I have no choice but to drive to other cities to hear my beloved Mahler.
Oh, but it is worth it! It is worth it to spend all the money, to deal with being in the car for 1200 miles and flight delays and expensive parking and everything else so I can go through the ups and downs that one goes through while listening to Mahler and then leave the hall a complete emotional wreck (yet wanting to be absolutely nothing else) where I wonder if I should be driving because not only am I exhausted physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually, but it's now hard to see because of the tears mingling with my eye makeup and contacts.
What else can I say right now? I can't really. In my mind are all my Mahler memories from last year, and the wonderful ones that are happily swirling around in my brain from this past weekend. Playing right now is the last movement of Mahler 10, and I am so sad that Mahler died when he did. I am so sad I only have 10 symphonies (or 9.5 I guess) and a handful of songs to listen to. Not that it's not enough---it's actually more than one can digest really, because every work of his is like deep, traumatic surgery, like when you get a heart transplant. You can only have visitors a few times each week, they all have to wear face masks, no one can be sick around you, etc etc. That's what Mahler does---surgery on one's heart. So each symphony is like a surgery that hurts yet you are so happy you had it done and you look forward to the next one. Yet....yet you think of composers with huge outputs like Bach, and Vivaldi, and how I wish sometimes that Mahler had that kind of a body of work, so I could delve in to it.
Yet only a handful of their works (ok, maybe more than a handful of Bach's) reach the emotional depths that Mahler's does. So perhaps it's ok that Mahler didn't have that body of work. He had quality going for him--not the quantity.
He definitely had the quality though, down pat.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Mahler Mondays: Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
My apologies, dear readers, for not being around so much the past week or so. I won't ramble on as to why I haven't been around---let's cut straight to some Mahler goodness.
The mighty Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is playing Mahler 2 in a few weeks, with Gilbert Kaplan at the podium. To say that one should not miss this concert if absolutely possible is a massive understatement.
Whether you might agree or disagree with a conductor's interpretation of Mahler, you simply HAVE to respect and admire a conductor who devotes his efforts to Mahler. Hence, I have much respect for Kaplan. My first ever recording of Mahler 2 was of him, leading the London Symphony Orchestra, and it is still a recording I very much enjoy. I plan on heading out to Cincinnati to see him in action. (on a small side note---I am very lucky to live in a city that has a wonderful orchestra. I am also lucky to live in a city with many other fine orchestras within easy driving distance).
This will be the first concert of the 08-09 Mahler season for me, and what better way to start it!
Kaplan said about his first ever Mahler concert, that he came in to the concert one person, and came out a completely different person. Is that not true for all Mahler lovers? I can certainly say the same thing, regarding my first experience of Mahler. I have spoken about it before; it was when I was in an orchestra, and our first concert (and my first ever taste of real orchestral rep) had Mahler 1 on it. I was taken aback, and since then, since the age of 14, this Mahler-mania has never ceased. I hope that I can meet and speak with Mr. Kaplan at the concert, and discuss Mahler-mania with him. Who better to speak with, than a man who left his job to learn how to conduct and interpret Mahler?? (oh to follow in those footsteps!)
To find out more about Gilbert Kaplan (and see a video of him), Mahler 2, and to get your tickets to the CSO, head here.
The mighty Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is playing Mahler 2 in a few weeks, with Gilbert Kaplan at the podium. To say that one should not miss this concert if absolutely possible is a massive understatement.
Whether you might agree or disagree with a conductor's interpretation of Mahler, you simply HAVE to respect and admire a conductor who devotes his efforts to Mahler. Hence, I have much respect for Kaplan. My first ever recording of Mahler 2 was of him, leading the London Symphony Orchestra, and it is still a recording I very much enjoy. I plan on heading out to Cincinnati to see him in action. (on a small side note---I am very lucky to live in a city that has a wonderful orchestra. I am also lucky to live in a city with many other fine orchestras within easy driving distance).
This will be the first concert of the 08-09 Mahler season for me, and what better way to start it!
Kaplan said about his first ever Mahler concert, that he came in to the concert one person, and came out a completely different person. Is that not true for all Mahler lovers? I can certainly say the same thing, regarding my first experience of Mahler. I have spoken about it before; it was when I was in an orchestra, and our first concert (and my first ever taste of real orchestral rep) had Mahler 1 on it. I was taken aback, and since then, since the age of 14, this Mahler-mania has never ceased. I hope that I can meet and speak with Mr. Kaplan at the concert, and discuss Mahler-mania with him. Who better to speak with, than a man who left his job to learn how to conduct and interpret Mahler?? (oh to follow in those footsteps!)
To find out more about Gilbert Kaplan (and see a video of him), Mahler 2, and to get your tickets to the CSO, head here.
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