Marin Alsop on Gustav Mahler

Happy 150th Birthday, Gustav Mahler! One might know that I really like Mahler's music since I wrote my master's paper on his 5th Symphony. Recently, I enjoyed this piece on NPR in which Marin Alsop (wonderful conductor of the Baltimore Symphony) discusses Mahler's music. Listen to the 10-minute spot which has much more than the what's written on the webpage.

I guess I didn't really know that he was known more in Vienna as a conductor than he was as a composer. I learned how he changed the role of conducting. He demanded that the Viennese audiences arrive on time for concerts, or wait until a break in the music to be seated. He required that audiences not clap between movements so as to keep his concentration.

As I look at the concerts coming up with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, I will probably buy tickets to a Mahler performance as part of the package I am putting together.