Wednesday, November 09, 2011

Happy 9th!!

In 1910 Gustav Mahler had a session with Sigmund Freud.  In recalling the event years later Freud commented on the complexity of Mahler's personality: "It was as if you would dig a single shaft through a mysterious building."

The following is a video of the complete Mahler Symphony no. 9, Roger Norrington conducting the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra.  The 9th Symphony was Mahler's last completed symphony.

The Symphony has a special appeal to me.  It includes quotes from numerous musical works including Robert Schumann's piano piece Träumerei, Johann Strauss Jr.'s waltz "Freut Euch des Lebens," one of the songs from Mahler's song cycle Kindertotenlieder, an allusion to Beethoven's piano sonata Les Adieux, among others.