Alma Mahler

We could go on all day talking about all the folks who were brilliant creatives.

Alma Mahler.

Let's not forget Alma Mahler.

What a community they had i, in the mid-century, uh, in Los Angeles of creatives and artists.

So there's this incredible heritage and history of vibrant creativity and intellectual and artistic excellence.

Tchaikovsky 6 is a piece written by a great composer at possibly the worst moment of his life as he sees the end of his life approaching.

And by contrast, the program that I'm picking is anchored by Mahler's Fifth Symphony, which is a great composer at the height of his power, and at, writing at the best time of his life.

Mahler has just gotten married.

He's the director of the Vienna State Opera.

His daughter is about to be born, and he composes this Fifth Symphony, which in some ways is perhaps a true culmination of Mahler as a composer.

Symphonies one through four of Mahler are all derived from his song cycle, Des Knaben Wunderhorn, and Mahler 5 departs from that.

And it's almost as if Mahler no longer needs this, like, crutch of the song cycle, if you could call it that.

Mm.

Do you know, was that always part of her or when did that sort of start to...

There is a wonderful catalog of Mahler bronze compositions that was assembled by Patrick Waddington and Nicholas Zekulin.

It's a catalog that pulls together everything she wrote, published, and some not published, and they do it in chronological order.

And so you can read through the catalog and see that she started, again, my failure to remember dates and ages.

So, Then Louis Viardot was this good husband, and he, I think, took care of a lot of the, paved the way business-wise and organizing and managing her singing career and maybe other aspects of all that she did.

I find that that's so interesting when there is... partner that is of that ilk that can support in that way man does that make all the difference you know you think of Clara Schumann you know eight children and a husband to take care of and Like, just always fighting to make enough money to make ends meet.

Oh, and Alma Mahler, who was so discouraged by Mahler from music.

Oh, yeah.