A little something different

​​​​​There is, we all agree, timeless, divinely inspired classical music because of its very divinity, if you will. One instantly thinks, perhaps, of the works of the three Bs, Beethoven, Brahms, and Bach. The first is indisputably sublime; the second little heard and thus woefully underrated these days, notwithstanding his breathtaking brilliance; and the third, if I may be so bold, somewhat overrated.

One hears, and by now it's a cliché, that Bach's music is "mathematical" in its rhythm. This tedious insight into his musical compositions is so bloody obvious as to cause nothing but face-palming among it auditors. This is not to say that Bach is unworthy. From his six Brandenburg concertos — my personal favorites, as was the second concerto of Bill Buckley's opening musical theme to "Firing Line" — to his ingenious fugues and multifarious variations on themes, Bach was — and this is just as tedious in well-known opinion — one of the greats.

Permit me, however, to reinstate the greatness of Gustav Mahler, whom none other than the exquisitely cultural Fraser Crane once said to brother Niles, Nobody likes Mahler. That may be, unless they have listened with care to his most prominent work, his first symphony. The subtleties, the rapturous explosions, the beautifully pieced togetherness of "The Titan" cause me, for one, to bawl like a babe with each listening.

You needn't put aside an hour devoted to Mahler's 1st to appreciate what I say. For now, just skip to 41:00 of this 48:00 magnificent rendition; hear the straining, the yearning, the ultimately impossible reaching out for understanding by an early 19th-century European Jew. I should add that this 1954 recording, conducted by the majestic Bruno Walter, is the only recording to which one should ever, ever listen; his scored emphasis on the concluding, which is to say the coda's, timpanis, will swell your heart to near bursting, assuming you have one. (This requires headphones, cranked to max.)

 

Comments

[Lucidamente]

Walter’s recordings of Mahler’s Second, Fourth, Fifth, and Ninth Symphonies ain’t too shabby, either. Nor is his of Das Lied von der Erde.

[Peter G]

Well that was worth it. And I guess you make may so bold in your mild criticism of Bach. Yet that is what always appealed to me before I could even understand what Bach does and so effortlessly too. Well it sounds effortless until you ask the musicians called upon to play it. Yes it is mathematically precise but it is advanced mathematically precise. Which is, I suppose, why it was always the background music when I used to do that sort of math. Sure,Brandenburg Concertos. Goldberg variations great. But the elegant simplicity of his cello suites does it for me.