Mahler and Måneskin (and Boléro, somehow)

Sharon's Weekly Head Dump

I don’t love Mahler. I have tried, multiple times, to fall in love with Mahler the way so many people do so easily, but it is very hard for me to love a man who stuffs approximately three full-length concert programs’ worth of material into a single symphony as if a symphony were a vacuum-sealed space saver bag. I realize this is very rich coming from a person whose writing tendencies fall squarely in the category of “whatever the opposite of ‘concise’ is,” but I must speak my truth!

I don’t loathe Mahler the way I loathe Wagner (both the man and the music). I don’t even dislike Mahler the way I dislike Bruckner, nor do I care to make fun of Mahler the way I will endlessly dunk on Berlioz.

🎹 sharon su 🎹 @doodlyroses

@pwallinga @kadska You know how on The Office Michael says he would go back in time to kill Toby twice? That’s how I feel about Berlioz

That being said, Mahler symphonies are simply not my jam. The amount of Mahler (approximately the first 30 seconds of the 5th Symphony) in Tár was the perfect amount of Mahler for me. If the human manifestation of a Mahler symphony were to approach me at a party, I would make no eye contact with him and scramble out of there like a spooked fawn before he could launch into conversation.

So when I got tickets to hear MTT (Michael Tilson Thomas) conducting Mahler’s 9th with the LA Phil, I was 1000% going for MTT. Both because of the long-standing parasocial relationship I have nursed with MTT—who is, after all, the foremost living Mahler interpreter—and because I am painfully aware that there are not many more opportunities to hear him. At this point, I would buy tickets to hear MTT conduct anything: Wagner, Berlioz, a handbell choir of toddlers.

Photo taken before the concert, because I am not a monster who takes photos after the “please put your phones away” announcement is made.