Mahler: Origins And Legacy

Michael Tilson Thomas, San Francisco Symphony

Gustav Mahler
tracklist and description
Documentary Episode One - "Gustav Mahler: Origins" : Exploring the roots of Mahler's music, MTT travels to rural Bohemia to reveal Mahler's inspirations, and traces Mahler's life through the premiere of his ground-breaking First Symphony which contains elements of everything else that Mahler composed. Shot on location in the Czech Republic, Austria and Hungary.
Concert Programme One - Mahler Symphony No. 1 : MTT and SFS live in performance at San Francisco's Davies Symphony Hall, in September and October, 2009.
Documentary Episode Two - "Gustav Mahler: Legacy" : MTT examines Mahler's creative path from the 1890s until his death at the age of 51 on 18 May, 1911, including his symphonies, the Rückert Lieder and Das Lied von der Erde. The programme charts Mahler's career as a conductor, from the Vienna Opera to the New York Philharmonic, as well as his tempestuous relationship with his wife, Alma. At Mahler's simple grave in a Grinzing cemetery, MTT explains why Mahler has so profoundly affected his own life. Shot on location in the Czech Republic, Austria and New York City.
Concert Programme Two - A Mahler Journey : A concert including the pivotal repertoire explored in Documentary Episode Two. Recorded live in performance at San Francisco's Davies Symphony Hall, in September and October, 2009, the programme includes noted Mahler interpreter baritone Thomas Hampson performing Songs of a Wayfarer, the poignant Adagietto from Symphony No. 5, the Scherzo from Symphony No. 7, and the Rondo Burleske from Symphony No. 9.

Wholenote Discoveries - July/August 2011
This is the third season of the San Francisco Symphony’s admirable “Keeping Score” music documentary series, a project that can be followed on certain PBS stations (unfortunately Buffalo’s WNED is not among them). The episodes are typically an hour long, though the latest Mahler instalment is twice that length. The retail version of the broadcast includes a second CD featuring the complete First Symphony and isolated movements from three more symphonies (details are available at keepingscore.org). This handsomely produced and thoughtful documentary is considerably enhanced by on-location visits to Mahler’s boyhood home of Iglau (now Jihlava, in the Czech Republic) and the re-creation of its unique soundscape: a melange of military bands, the hymnody of St. Jacob’s church (Mahler, though Jewish, joined the choir there), the rustic sounds emanating from his father Bernard’s tavern, and the sylvan stillness of the ravine just beyond the town walls. Tilson-Thomas delivers an extended and quite engaging thematic analysis of Mahler’s First Symphony, convincingly demonstrating how Mahler forged the touchstone for all his subsequent works from these disparate cultural elements. Mahler’s rapid rise to the very top of his profession as a conductor is traced via stops in Budapest, Vienna and New York, including an unprecedented opportunity to enter his villa on the Wörthersee and visits to the various “composing huts” he had built for his precious few summers of composing. We learn of the genesis of most, though not all, of his 10 symphonies along the way. It is perhaps understandable, considering the huge expense of the recording contracts involved, that the choral symphonies (2 and 8) are glossed over and the grandiose 8th symphony rates but a single sentence. It is nonetheless an unfortunate omission, as both these works embrace a message of resurrection and transcendence that belie the clichéd thesis of Mahler’s introverted “otherness” which forms such a large part of Tilson-Thomas’s argument. Daniel Foley
Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony present the latest instalment in their acclaimed Keeping Score series, exploring the life and music of Gustav Mahler. In the year marking both the 100th anniversary of the composer's death and the founding of the San Francisco Symphony, Mahler: Origins and Legacy, focuses on the enigmatic composer with two one-hour documentaries and two live performances. "Gustav Mahler was a visionary musician," says MTT. "In his compositions he made reference to many styles, building his huge symphonies from materials abstracted from songs, dances and marches from many cultures. His symphonies, or worlds, as he called them, represent the many ways that people make music and why they make music. In Keeping Score: Mahler, we walk in his footsteps, visit the places and sounds that influenced his life."
Keeping Score: Mahler is designed to engage, educate and entertain viewers of all musical backgrounds, from classical music enthusiasts to those hearing Mahler's music for the first time. With MTT and SFS firmly established among the leading interpreters of Mahler's music, these programmes are a fitting culmination to their decade-long Mahler recording project. To coincide with its release, MTT and SFS will embark on a three-week European tour performing Mahler's works including Prague and Vienna where there will be special screenings of Keeping Score: Mahler.
critical acclaim for Keeping Score
"The images, interviews and research contained in each hour-long documentary had me absorbed throughout, whetting my appetite for each work's complete performance ... the Hi-Def video is stunning in its clarity, fully revealing the masterful editing, composition and camera movement that always fits the music" - BBC Music Magazine

Price: $26.98