G. Mahler Suite for Orchestra, Harpsichord and Organ after J.S. Bach

[@xpsspx]

Mahler has been my most favorite composer since discovering and studying his scores as a young teenager. How have I NEVER heard this Mahler arrangement? What a musical 🎁 this morning. ❤️💕

[@leestamm3187]

This suite was included on the program of 20 concerts Mahler conducted with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra between November of 1909 and February of 1911. Mahler directed the Suite as he accompanied on a piano modified to sound more similar to a harpsichord. It was popular with both audiences and critics.

[@areyounatz]

The pizz strings in the Badinerie is a really wonderful touch.

[@stefanufer608]

So the purists will have a seizure but wait a moment - do they not hear what a superb tribute this is from one genius to another?

[@cubanbach]

Gorgeous arrangement...Mahler was truly a master...

[@davidsimons5944]

This is a surprise to me. I only knew of his songs and the 10 symphonies. Makes sense though. He must have got inspiration for his polyphonic contrapuntal style from an earlier era, even harking back to medieval plain song. That spirit is also noticeable in Bruckner who was of course also an organist and whom Mahler regarded as his father in music. Perhaps Bach was his grandfather in music!?

[@stuartparsons4948]

Yes. Mahler became increasingly inspired by Bach towards the latter part of his compositional career; you can hear the increasing contrapuntal elements in Mahler's music from his 5th Symphony onwards. (Incidentally, they are my two favourite composers) 🙂

[@joeppeeters6222]

Alma Mahler has once said that in their summer houses no other scores than Bachs were allowed by Gustav, because it was the basis.

[@stefanufer608]

In one of his composing huts the only sheets music was that of Bach - if devotees of Bach ever needed evidence that their hero is the God, this says everything

[@criticosenso]

ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!!!!

[@laupet55]

Surely Mahler did this out of love for the music.

[@stefanufer608]

One genius to another

[@JulianusRex]

Looking forward to a performance of this Suite by the Montreal Symphony Orchestra tomorrow night (November 26, 2015)..

[@mhenrikse]

how was it?

[@BrucknerMotet]

Air in D major (from BWV 1068) 10:16 Very happy.

[@TheStockwell]

This is probably the best performance of the Suite I've ever heard - and I've heard quite a few. Usually, it's recorded to provide filler for an album. This version by Chailly and Co. gives the work a great presentation.

[@StocksIn60Seconds]

You are absolutely correct.

[@dianajosefina1]

bello homenaje!

[@davidwright8432]

Eh? Gavotte the hell? How come I'd never even heard of this before? Been listening to Mahler for 60 years!

[@Edward_Hughes]

An interesting counter-example to the principle of authenticity in musical performance. What is authenticity, after all?

[@dpbmss]

Just as Mozart did for Handel, Mahler did for Bach. Excellent work.

[@frenchimp]

Mozart did it for Bach as well (some fugues of the WTC).

[@needtoknowbasis3499]

Just as Wagner did for Haydn, so did Mahler for Bach.

[@francoisdesnoyers3042]

What did Mozart do for Handel?

[@mrsneaky2010]

They must be related... just look at those profiles lool

[@alexanderferrari5879]

Indeed :)

[@juan12piscis]

so amazingggggg

[@rejeanleroux3897]

Délice de l'âme...

[@Hashyno]

Grandioso.

[@jpb10]

Anyone know the story behind this suite?

[@offyougonow1007]

Mahler arranged this music and even played the harpsichord part personally while in New York. He took the piece on tour. It was one of the last arranged masterpieces of his life. This world has seen and heard few geniuses of the ilk of Gustav Mahler. He was the SuperMan of music. May he rest in peace... This world misses him profoundly...

[@PointyTailofSatan]

OMG why couldn't Webern and Schoenberg transcribe Bach like this? Their orchestrations are horrible. But Mahler understands Bach.

[@StocksIn60Seconds]

The Second Viennese School was more concerned with reacting with their own view after the war rather than being authentic to the original text. That’s why their legacies are more tainted than Mahler’s.

[@alexkije]

WOW! This is news to me! Found out via FB. Sounds pretty much like other Bach to full ork though. But interesting that Mahler did this without his usual attention deficit composing of his own music.

[@AIPlaying]

Someone know the name of the bach music that start 8:02?

[@samuellabrecque880]

It's the badinerie from Bach's BWV 1067.

[@millertj27]

Who is performing?

[@Quotenwagnerianer]

Dude! The album cover is shown right at the very top of the video. Are you blind?

[@TheStockwell]

@@Quotenwagnerianer I'm surprised the question wasn't that KZbin classic, "What's the name of this song?" 😬

[@timgoode3342]

To be fair (?) the album cover disappears once one is listening.

[@enzocypriani5055]

why?

[@TheStockwell]

Before there were Bach festivals and ensembles devoted exclusively to baroque music, Bach was rarely heard in the concert hall because he didn't compose works on the post-Romantic scale of modern orchestras. Conductors and composers who appreciated Bach addressed the situation by presenting transcriptions like Mahler's. These arrangements sometimes provoke a WTF reaction for us today, but that's because we have access to authentic Bach that simply wasn't available to concert audiences hundreds of years ago.

[@carlosgonzalezalatorre8132]

Soberbio...

[@mrsneaky2010]

Whilst I find pieces like this interesting, I do prefer each composer doing their own thing rather their own take on another composers music. The only exception to this is Mozarts tasteful arrangement of Handels Messiah.

[@paulybarr]

So how do you rate Ravel's arrangement of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition?

[@slubert]

So Mozarts Requiem is a "no-go" for you. It was afterall almost completely written by by his Franz Xaver Sussmyer.

[@MrGreensheep123]

What about Rimsky Korsakov's arrangement of Mussorgsky's Night on a Bald Mountain?

[@luisdiazlopez3712]

Bach himself wrote arrangements of Vivaldi's opera. Great masters of music form a sort of familiar soul wich takes de divine torch across the time. Mahler also wrote a version for strings orchestra of Schubert's "Death and the maiden".

[@waltuh2.3bviews3secondsago3]

@@paulybarr yeah, i don't know anyone who prefers the piano version