The Cambridge Companion to Mahler (Cambridge Companions to Music)

Cambridge University Press, 10/26/2011
EAN 9780521540339, ISBN10: 052154033X

Paperback, 370 pages, 24.7 x 17.4 x 2.1 cm
Language: English

In the years approaching the centenary of Mahler's death, this book provides both summation of, and starting point for, an assessment and reassessment of the composer's output and creative activity. Authored by a collection of leading specialists in Mahler scholarship, its opening chapters place the composer in socio-political and cultural contexts, and discuss his work in light of developments in the aesthetics of musical meaning. Part II examines from a variety of analytical, interpretative and critical standpoints the complete range of his output, from early student works and unfinished fragments to the sketches and performing versions of the Tenth Symphony. Part III evaluates Mahler's role as interpreter of his own and other composers' works during his lifelong career as operatic and orchestral conductor. Part IV addresses Mahler's fluctuating reception history from scholarly, journalistic, creative, public and commercial perspectives, with special attention being paid to his compositional legacy.

Chronology
Introduction
Marginalia on Mahler today Jeremy Barham
Part I. Cultural Contexts
1. Socio-political landscapes
reception and biography Peter Franklin
2. The literary and philosophical worlds of Gustav Mahler Morten Solvik
3. Music and aesthetics Vera Micznik
Part II. Mahler the Creative Musician
4. Juvenilia and early works
from the first song fragments to Das klagende Lied Jeremy Barham
5. Song and symphony (I). Lieder und Gesänge Vol.1, Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen and the First Symphony
compositional patterns for the future Zoltan Roman
6. Song and song-symphony (I). Des Knaben Wunderhorn and the Second, Third and Fourth Symphonies
music of heaven and earth Peter Revers
7. Song and symphony (II). From Wunderhorn to Rückert and the middle-period symphonies
vocal and instrumental works for a new century Stephen E. Hefling
8. The 'greatest' and the 'most personal'
the Eighth Symphony and Das Lied von der Erde Christian Wildhagen
9. The last works Jörg Rothkamm
Part III. Mahler the Re-creative Musician
10. Mahler as conductor in the opera house and concert hall Herta Blaukopf
11. Arrangements and Retuschen - Mahler and Werktreue David Pickett
Part IV. Reception and Performance
12. Issues in Mahler reception
historicism and misreadings after 1960 Christoph Metzger
13. The history of the International Gustav Mahler Society in Vienna and the complete critical edition Reinhold Kubik
14. Musical languages of love and death
Mahler's compositional legacy Stephen Downes
15. Mahler conducted and recorded
from the concert hall to DVD Lewis M. Smoley
16. New research paths in criticism, analysis and interpretation John Williamson
Appendix.

'The select discography is useful ...' Reference Reviews