Beethoven’s symphonic repertoire reigned unchallenged for nearly a century as the apotheosis of extended concert work...then came Mahler. Maurice Ravel summed it up nicely when asked why he composed no symphonies, “Mahler has consummated that form.” (a sentiment expressed a half-century earlier by Brahms about Beethoven) Unlike Beethoven’s symphonies, however, Mahler’s compositions went largely unrecognized during his lifetime. They were simply to complex for contemporary audiences - often mammoth productions calling for huge orchestras, soloists and choruses; symphonies that lasted nearly two hours. And the content too unconventional and emotionally ambivalent for popular tastes.
Even most musicians of the day, who recognized Mahler as the greatest opera conductor of the era, were confounded by his symphonies. For unlike other compositions, Gustav Mahler’s works seemed to have no precedents. One can understand Beethoven’s musical development by examining his formative pieces, firmly rooted in the styles of Haydn, Mozart and Bach. But Mahler produced no formative work. All his music, from the first syllable of the first song to the last somber note of the ninth symphony, seems fully resolved, fully mature, and absolutely original.
The Maestro, himself, was undaunted. “Some day,” he vowed, “audiences will flock to concert halls to listen to my work, as they do now to hear Beethoven.” A bold prophesy, but one that was eventually realized. As it turned out, some of Mahler’s young proteges - notably Bruno Walter and Otto Klemperer - went on to become influential conductors, and literally forced their mentor’s music down the throats of reluctant European concert goers. A similar process was initiated in the United States by a brash, young wunderkind named Leonard Bernstein, who refused to sign a recording contract with RCA until that company agreed to let him record Mahler’s symphonies.
Now, eight decades after his passing, no serious symphony buff need be coaxed to a Mahler concert. Halls that Ludwig, Wolfgang and Franz Joseph can’t quite fill, routinely sell out when the transcendent strains of Das Lied von Der Erde or Aufverstehung rise relentlessly and irresistibly from the symphony stage.

- Greg Knepp, ClassicT-Shirt.com

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