July 7 is the birthday of the great Austrian composer and conductor GUSTAV MAHLER (1860-1911).
“A symphony must be like the world. It must contain everything.”
Mahler once described himself as “thrice homeless, as a native of Bohemia in Austria, as an Austrian among Germans, and as a Jew throughout the world. Everywhere an intruder, never welcomed.”
To celebrate Mahler’s birthday, listen to Claudio Abbado conduct the hair-raising final moments of his Symphony No. 1 “Titan.”
Well, now I have to play Mahler’s titanic symphony