Why Mahler: How One Man and Ten Symphonies Changed the World
(Paperback, Main)
Publishing Details
Why Mahler: How One Man and Ten Symphonies Changed the World
By (Author) Norman Lebrecht
Faber & Faber
Faber & Faber
1st November 2011
1st September 2011
Main
United Kingdom
Classifications
General
Non Fiction
Art music, orchestral and formal music
780.92
Physical Properties
Paperback
384
Width 130mm, Height 25mm, Spine 200mm
300g
Description
A century after his death, Gustav Mahler is the most important composer of modern times. Displacing Beethoven as a box-office draw, his music offers more than the usual listening satisfactions. Many believe it has the power to heal emotional wounds and ease the pain of death. Others struggle with the intellectual fascination of its contradictory meanings. Long, loud and seldom easy, his symphonies are used to accompany acts of mourning and Hollywood melodramas. Sometimes dismissed as death-obsessed. Mahler is more alive in the 21st century than ever before.
Why Mahler Why does a Jewish musician from a land without a name capture the yearnings and anxieties of post-industrial society Is it the music, is it the man, or is it the affinity we feel with his productive peak - a decade when Freud, Einstein, Picasso, Joyce and Mahler reconfigured the ways we understand life on earth
In this highly original account of Mahler's life and work, Norman Lebrecht - renowned writer, critical and cultural commentator - explores the Mahler Effect, a phenomenon that reaches deep into unsuspecting lives, altering the self-perceptions of world leaders, finance chiefs and working musicians.
Why Mahler is a multi-layered exploration of the role that music plays as a soundtrack to our lives.
Reviews
"Very enjoyable to read, gossipy as well as learned, and it makes the man come to life."
"--The Economist"
"From the Hardcover edition."
Author Bio
Norman Lebrecht is one of the most widely read commentators on music and cultural affairs. Based in London, his columns appear in many languages and he is a regular contributor to the BBC, Bloomberg and New York's local radio. He has written twelve books about music, among which The Maestro Myth and Maestros, Masterpieces and Madness provoked lasting debate. He is also an award-winning novelist, collecting a Whitbread Prize for The Song of Names in 2002.
