Gustav Mahler, who is being celebrated this month on WETA
Local radio station WETA (90.9 FM) is in the middle of celebrating one of my favorite composers this month: Gustav Mahler. WETA is DC’s only Classical-format radio station, and it’s only returned to that recently. Thankfully, they are not a station that plays only “lite classical” or what we might otherwise think of as Top 40 Dead White Guys.
But onto the composer at hand. Mahler isn’t for everyone. There are just as many Mahler haters (if not more!) as there are devotees. His music is epic in scope, thick and overbearing at times, and very self-important. Nevertheless, those that get into Mahler tend to fall head-over-heels for the guy. I remember taking only about 2 or 3 months after hearing my first Mahler symphony to own all nine (ten, if you count Das Lied von der Erde) symphonies on CD. It becomes an addiction.
Jens, at the WETA blog, has been doing a superb job in both advising the station what recordings to play and writing up the reasoning behind his choices. I cannot possibly recommend reading his blog enough: he is the person who practically built my collection while he was working at the (sadly, now defunct) 2000 Penn Tower Records. As the month reaches its close, I’ll put up a post or two giving some more detail on Mahler and a few particular choices of my own for recordings. I encourage you to give a listen to what WETA has to offer and to give Mahler a chance. He is a challenge, but one of the most rewarding challenges in all of classical music.
If you are looking to listen tonight (November 12), you can hear the 8th Symphony performed by Claudio Abbado and the Berlin Philharmonic at 9 PM. The 8th is a huge work (it’s known as the “Symphony of a Thousand” in reference to the nearly 1,000 performers who took part in its premiere) in two parts. The first is an elaborate hymn (“Veni, Creator Spiritus”) and the second is the final scenes from Goethe’s Faust II. When played well (as it is in this recording) the 8th can be one of the most breathtaking works in all of music, so I’d definitely tune in.
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