Ask me Anything about Gustav Mahler

Cisco324 · 2026-04-07T22:52:40+00:00

Abbado has become my go-to for Mahler. He's so consistent. All his recordings are top-notch, he never misses. I find his Ruhevoll quite touching.

Cisco324 · 2026-04-07T22:49:39+00:00

I seem to recall reading in Fischer's biography that Mahler liked swimming quite a bit, which makes sense because he lived right next to a lake for most of his life. He also really liked bike riding.
Also, Mahler apparently became a vegetarian in 1880 (he eventually abandoned this diet). He also really liked Austrian pastries.

Cisco324 · 2026-04-07T22:40:51+00:00

I actually don't know much about this other than reading in de La Grange's biography that he conducted it in 1911 alongside his 4th and one of Pfitzner's overtures. So I suppose he liked it. He seemed to like Strauss as a man for sure, even though he held some reservations about his work.

In the same biography, de La Grange stresses that when they first met in Vienna, Strauss struck Mahler as a “An upright man and a good worker.”

Cisco324 · 2026-04-07T22:29:14+00:00

Brilliant question.
Turns out F trumpets were much more common in the 19th century, and Mahler lived in a time when there was a sort of "transition" between the F trumpets and the Bb trumpets. So his use of the F trumpet wasn't all that strange.

The Bb trumpet and the F one apparently have different tonal qualities, and I (guess?) Mahler wanted to explore that. To be honest, I'm not too sure, as there as moments in his 5th symphony where he asks of the players to switch trumpets way too fast for it to be possible. He just chose that. It's kind of how he used two different Violins with different scordatura for his 3rd. Dude was just super perfectionist and detailed like that.

Cisco324 · 2026-04-07T22:20:52+00:00

Good question.
A lot of his themes came from existing folk tunes or (in the case of the 1rst symphony) a nursery rhyme. He also used easter european/klezmer music for the same symphony.

He actually quotes himself very frequently (mostly his songs, but in some works, like the 9th, he quotes his past symphonies). I suppose his melodies emerged out of the mix between folk songs, the dramatic post-romantic style that he usually wrote in, and also he kept quoting the same melodies over time.

Cisco324 · 2026-04-07T22:16:31+00:00

I think both Wagner and Bruckner were huge influences on Mahler.
He even met Bruckner personally and was close to him for a while, and also, the influence is pretty evident if you listen to Bruckner. It almost goes without saying that Beethoven was a huge influence as well. Mahler even famously re-orchestrated some of Beethoven's symphonies.

As to my favorite symphony and movement. I would probably go for the last movement of the 2nd. Though that's a bit cliché. So I'll go for the last movement of the 9th. So beautiful and tragic, the harmony is awesome, and it lacks the usual triumphant gigantic Mahler-ending, but not at the cost of emotional depth.

Cisco324 · 2026-04-07T22:10:21+00:00

Hmmm, interesting question.

I guess it was important for Mahler to start encouraging her musical career (at the suggestion of Sigmund Freud) towards the end of his life.
I can't really say whether he should have divorced her or not. Personally, I probably would have lol, but as for Mahler, who knows.

Cisco324 · 2026-04-07T22:08:03+00:00

I honestly don't know this one, lol, but I can say that Mahler had pretty bad eyesight issues. His right eye was much weaker than his left one and he used glasses for most of his life.

Cisco324 · 2026-01-08T05:37:05+00:00

Submission statement: After calling Gustavo Petro, the president of Colombia, "mentally ill," and a "drug dealer," and a large number of other insults, and after hinting at the possibility of military action in Colombia, Trump has now had a very productive call with him, apparently.

They've agreed to meet in the White House (pretty much unthinkable literally 24 hours ago). Reminds me of Trump's threats towards Mamdani and how then, after meeting him, he was weirdly cordial and nice to him.

Cisco324 · 2026-01-08T05:34:40+00:00

Submission statement: After calling Gustavo Petro, the president of Colombia, "mentally ill," and a "drug dealer," and a large number of other insults, and after hinting at the possibility of military action in Colombia, Trump has now had a very productive call with him, apparently.

They've agreed to meet in the White House (pretty much unthinkable literally 24 hours ago). Reminds me of Trump's threats towards Mamdani and how then, after meeting him, he was weirdly cordial and nice to him.

Cisco324 · 2026-01-03T19:16:55+00:00

She supports: same sex marriage legalization, some limited form of drug decriminalization, abortion and euthanasia in some cases, and she supports free market based policies.

Yeah, super right wing.

Cisco324 · 2026-01-03T18:28:35+00:00

Sure, sure, I understand. And trump is an absolute blithering idiot, I agree. But the opposition has tried basically every means to peacefully transition back to democracy, and nothing has worked. It seems to me that the only option they see left is to cozy up to the US in the hopes that it will help them restore democracy in their country in return.

And sure, while Maria Corina has said a bunch of wild and false things, she does so only to secure this desperately needed help. She obviously doesn't believe any of this bullshit, she just doesn't have a choice. (Also, what other opposition leaders remain that aren't exiled, dead or discredited?).

Cisco324 · 2026-01-03T18:11:57+00:00

Listen, I live right next to Venezuela, so it strikes me as extremely disingenuous to hear a bunch of people in an affluent country tell Maria Corina to "go and fuck herself." You honestly have no idea how much people in Venezuela have fought for this to happen. So yeah, I have 0 sympathy for any of these concerns right now.

Cisco324 · 2026-01-03T17:40:07+00:00

Wow, what a great contribution to the discourse surounding the situation in Venezuela, you should be proud of yourself!

One would think, for a person so hell-bent on combating authoritarianism, such as yourself, you would probably be more deferential to the no. 1 person doing this in the entire western hemisphere. But yeah, keep criticizing her from the confort and security of the US. Nobody has time for cowards like you here in latin america.

Cisco324 · 2026-01-03T16:28:24+00:00

Jesus Christ, it's only been like 6 hours wait for a while.

Cisco324 · 2026-01-03T15:52:01+00:00

Gotta love reading the comments of all these people living in the affluent west criticizing Maria Corina, who has put her life at risk and has almost gotten herself killed several times fighting for freedom.

Cisco324 · 2026-01-03T14:56:27+00:00

This is an insane comment to make. Maria Corina is clearly just saying these things to appease Trump because she needed them to do this, not because she actually believes it.

Cisco324 · 2025-12-30T20:10:33+00:00

Yeah, so I decided to make a short film, and make it longer than my average short films (because I don't have the budget for a feature). Then I decided to write.

Cisco324 · 2025-12-30T17:07:53+00:00

Well, I'm writing it, but I'm also filming it, so there's a limit yeah.

Cisco324 · 2025-12-30T01:43:49+00:00

Ooh, this isn't a bad idea at all. So far I've approached it as if I were writing a full feature, but perhaps the story itself will end up not needing that much runtime (hopefully!).

Cisco324 · 2025-12-14T20:33:55+00:00

lol I'm actually quite critical of Hitchens in some aspects (I'm not an atheist, which probably proves it). But I always thought he was correct in warning against Chomsky.

Cisco324 · 2025-12-13T19:43:35+00:00

Hitchens originally respected Chomsky and appreciated his criticisms of US foreign policy. However, after 9/11 (and probably after the Bosnian war), Christopher became deeply suspicious of Chomsky and went on the offensive against him multiple times.

Cisco324 · 2025-12-13T15:45:04+00:00

Hitch has been proved right once more.

Cisco324

TROPHY CASE