Mahler book

April 3, 2011

Dear Readers,
Here’s a description of Mahler Re-Composed.

It is an interconnected series of six extended essays, a detailed introduction, and a conclusion, on the work and personality of the Bohemian-Austrian-Jewish composer Gustav Mahler. It is for the lay reader — the reader lying down, interested in enjoying something (s)he already knows a little about. Le lecteur accouchant, as Freud would say. 520 pp, with 13 illustrations.

Topics include: Mahler the Czech (35-p. introduction), Mahler sick and lovesick (Ch I, with Freud in a co-starring role), Tell Me the Story (early years II), Too Jewish (III), Strauss (IV), Tell Me the Story (late years, V), and Curriculum Vitae (VI).
In order of quality, I rank them: Introduction, Mahler Sick, Tell the Story (early), Tell the Story (late), Strauss, CV, Jewish. I think Too Jewish is too overrun with detail and tends to ramble. Strauss also rambles, but it is so unique and rings so true to my inner ear that I can’t be dissatisfied. In general I am pleased with the book, and I think most of it is good to very good. In any case, it tells the absolute and complicated truth, as I have discovered it. The introduction, CV, and Ch I turned out to be easier to read than the rest of it.

I do not sugarcoat Mahler. He must have been a difficult person, but with many redeeming qualities. He was like an extremely demanding professor with a soft heart who rewards you for tremendous effort even when you don’t do that well. He was a strong personality, but he had problems dealing with his friends and the people closest to him. Neurotic? No more than any hard-working genius. (To Freud, everyone in the world was neurotic except fresh corpses.)

2011 is the centennial of his death (May 18), as 2010 was the sesquicentennial (July 7), so you can see I had to hurry to get it done in the magic year.
I also had to hurry for another reason: my vision is deteriorating.

If you want an e-version, it is $9.99. If you want paper and print, I have ordered some copies for those who might be interested (IUniverse).

gmc