{"id":5672,"date":"2014-04-09T12:54:03","date_gmt":"2014-04-09T12:54:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/?p=5672"},"modified":"2020-10-11T15:52:57","modified_gmt":"2020-10-11T14:52:57","slug":"the-official-definitive-ultimate-real-top-ten-sexiest-moments-in-the-music-of-gustav-mahler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/2014\/04\/09\/the-official-definitive-ultimate-real-top-ten-sexiest-moments-in-the-music-of-gustav-mahler\/","title":{"rendered":"The Official, Definitive, Ultimate, Real Top Ten Sexiest Moments in the Music of Gustav Mahler"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A few years ago, Julian Johnson\u2019s excellent book\u00a0 \u201cMahler\u2019s Voices\u201d had been languishing on various bookshelves here in an embarrassingly half-read state.<br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 120px; height: 240px;\" src=\"http:\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;Operation=GetAdHtml&amp;ID=OneJS&amp;OneJS=1&amp;source=ss&amp;ref=ss_til&amp;ad_type=product_link&amp;tracking_id=aviewfromthep-20&amp;marketplace=amazon&amp;region=US&amp;placement=0195372395&amp;asins=0195372395&amp;show_border=true&amp;link_opens_in_new_window=true&amp;MarketPlace=US\" width=\"320\" height=\"240\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Eventually, with a performance of Mahler&#8217;s Fifth Symphony on the horizon, I began skimming through relevant chapters. Almost immediately, I spied something a bit provocative (no pun intended) on the subject of Mahler and sex.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">\u201cNothing marks this difference more acutely than the absence of an erotic dimension in Mahler\u2019s work. The preoccupation\u00a0 of Viennese modernism with a specifically sexual content (Klimt, Gerstl, Schiele, Kokoschka\u2026 Strauss, Zemlinsky, Schreker, Sch\u00f6nberg) is entirely bypassed by Mahler. Despite a lifelong engagement with the music of Wagner, and memorable performances of Tristan und Isolde, Mahler\u2019s own music displays a studied avoidance of the topic that most immediately definted a modernist viewpoint.\u201d (pg 229)<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_5674\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Bride_of_the_Wind_oil_on_canvas_painting_by_Oskar_Kokoschka_a_self-portrait_expressing_his_unrequited_love_for_Alma_Mahler_widow_of_composer_Gustav_Mahler_1913.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5674\" class=\"wp-image-5674\" src=\"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Bride_of_the_Wind_oil_on_canvas_painting_by_Oskar_Kokoschka_a_self-portrait_expressing_his_unrequited_love_for_Alma_Mahler_widow_of_composer_Gustav_Mahler_1913-300x242.jpg\" alt=\"Alma Mahler with her future lover, painter Oskar Kokoschka\" width=\"600\" height=\"485\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Bride_of_the_Wind_oil_on_canvas_painting_by_Oskar_Kokoschka_a_self-portrait_expressing_his_unrequited_love_for_Alma_Mahler_widow_of_composer_Gustav_Mahler_1913-300x242.jpg 300w, https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Bride_of_the_Wind_oil_on_canvas_painting_by_Oskar_Kokoschka_a_self-portrait_expressing_his_unrequited_love_for_Alma_Mahler_widow_of_composer_Gustav_Mahler_1913-371x300.jpg 371w, https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Bride_of_the_Wind_oil_on_canvas_painting_by_Oskar_Kokoschka_a_self-portrait_expressing_his_unrequited_love_for_Alma_Mahler_widow_of_composer_Gustav_Mahler_1913.jpg 742w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-5674\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alma Mahler with her future lover, painter Oskar Kokoschka<\/p><\/div>\n<p>It\u2019s funny how differently various perceptive listeners will hear the same piece of music.\u00a0The rest of this paragraph from Johnson is a tour de force of\u00a0 insight, nuance and complexity, but in these two sentences, I saw before me the possibility of a blog post with a blatantly titillating title in which I could mix a bit of juvenile humor with some more thoughtful insights in the complexities of Mahler\u2019s musical world.<\/p>\n<p>Sex is often depicted in the modernist works of Mahler&#8217;s near contemporaries and immediate successors as something dark and dangerous. It is frequently associated with decay and madness, and with isolation, rage, manipulation and estrangement. Sex in Berg, Schoenberg and Richard Strauss is probably more likely to be associated with murder than with love. Wagner adds incest. In Mahler, with the notable exceptions of Das Lied von der Erde and the Scherzo of the Fifth Symphony, sex is a redemptive, healing, creative force, closely joined to the idea of transcendent love. Which vision of sexuality is more truly modern? The darker sexual images of most early 20th C. modernist art may make Mahler&#8217;s worldview seem sweetly old-fashioned, but they clearly bind sex with shame. Maybe there is something distinctly modern about Mahler&#8217;s un-embarrassed depiction of sex as something essential, even holy?<\/p>\n<p>While I wouldn\u2019t say that, as a rule, Mahler\u2019s music gets quite as raunchy as the purple-est passages in the music of the Richard&#8217;s, Strauss and Wagner, I\u2019m pretty confident in asserting there\u00a0 are some pretty good naughty bits in Mahler\u2019s music. So, without further ado, I present for the record, the official, definitive, ultimate, Real Top Ten Sexiest Moments in the Music of Mahler<\/p>\n<p>What do you think? Are there passages in Mahler that get you seriously hot and bothered, or do you turn to Lulu and Salome for your fix of early 20th c. Austro-German sensuality?<\/p>\n<p><strong>10-<i> Die zwei blauen Augen<\/i> (&#8220;My baby\u2019s Blue Eyes&#8221;) from <i>Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>We hear a funeral march, then the voice of the poet, a young wayfarer, describing the beauty of his beloved\u2019s two blue eyes.\u00a0 Is it a love-song or a lament?\u00a0 Is it about sex or death? Why not both? Mahler is singing a Bohemian blues, or is it a country\/western lament? It\u2019s a tear-in-your-beer tale of a pretty girl and a broken heart, no doubt, and when the clouds part and the poet lies back under the linden tree and remembers his beloved, it\u2019s abundantly sad and sexy.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Gustav Mahler- Die zwei blauen Augen\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/yP4Ry9ahpxE?feature=oembed\"  allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">The two blue eyes of my darling &#8211;<br \/>\nthey have sent me into the wide world.<br \/>\nI had to take my leave of this well-beloved place!<br \/>\nO blue eyes, why did you gaze on me?<br \/>\nNow I will have eternal sorrow and grief.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">I went out into the quiet night\u00a0 well across the dark heath.<br \/>\nTo me no one bade farewell.\u00a0 Farewell!<br \/>\nMy companions are love and sorrow!<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">On the road there stands a linden tree,<br \/>\nand there for the first time I found rest in sleep!<br \/>\nUnder the linden tree<br \/>\nthat snowed its blossoms onto me &#8211;<br \/>\nI did not know how life went on,<br \/>\nand all was well again!<br \/>\nAll! All, love and sorrow<br \/>\nand world and dream!<\/p>\n<p><strong>9- Trio, Mvt II \u201c<i>Kraftig Bewegt<\/i>\u201d from Symphony no. 1<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>An interesting point of comparison with the waltz music in the Fifth Symphony (see no. 7 below)- these two passages share many of the same dance rhythms, and both are plenty alluring in their way, but this episode is a more innocent kind of sexy. This passage is more a sort of &#8220;sweet fraulein from the village flirting in a dirndl in a kind of semi-innocent way&#8221; sexy, where the parallel passage in the Fifth is full of\u00a0<i>fin de si\u00e8cle\u00a0<\/i>decadence and danger. But a dirndl can still be sexy.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Gustav Mahler - Symphony No. 1 -  Bernstein \u00b7 Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra\" width=\"1080\" height=\"810\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5c1RDalpXuA?start=1221&#038;feature=oembed\"  allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>8-<i> Adagietto<\/i> from Symphony no. 5<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A love-letter to his wife, or meditation on mortality and loss? Is it about sex or is it about death? Commentators have debated this question for over a hundred years. Of course, the answer is obvious- for the generation of composers after Richard Wagner, you can\u2019t represent sex in a piece without at least a bit of death in it. \u00a0At the very least, a Romantic outpouring of love needs a good dose of denial and disappointment. In Mahler&#8217;s most popular movement, episodes of tenderness alternate with explosions of angst. Any conductor who gives you only sex or only death in this one is not treating you, or the music, right.<b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Gustav Mahler - Adagietto | Leonard Bernstein\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/yjz2TvC2TT4?feature=oembed\"  allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>7-<i> Scherzo<\/i> from Symphony no. 5<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Mahler\u2019s \u201cdamnable\u201d Scherzo was apparently inspired in part by Goethe\u2019s poem \u201cAn Schwager Kronos.\u201d<a href=\"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/2010\/02\/19\/performers-perspective-mahler-5-a-tempo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> You can learn more here<\/a>, or check out Donald Mitchell\u2019s essay on the Fifth (not an easy read). Throughout the movement are several versions of a slow waltz that\u2019s as sleazy as a Viennese brothel. Goethe\u2019s words surely fired Mahler\u2019s imagination:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">A shadowy doorway beckons you aside<br \/>\nAcross the threshold of the girl\u2019s house,<br \/>\nAnd her eyes promise refreshment.<br \/>\nTake comfort! For me too, lass, that sparkling draught<br \/>\nThat fresh and healthy look.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Mahler - Symphony No.5 - Abbado - Lucerne Festival Orchestra 2004\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vOvXhyldUko?start=2068&#038;feature=oembed\"  allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>6- <em>Nachtmusik<\/em> no. 2 from Symphony no. 7<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>You want sexy? He didn&#8217;t call it &#8220;<em>Andante amoroso<\/em>&#8221; for nothing This astounding movement starts with a rapturous \u201coh baby, you are looking hot tonight\u201d slide in the solo violin, then piles on\u00a0 the mandolin and guitar.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Claudio Abbado Mahler  Symphony 7\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QdxvC7NNSLQ?start=2667&#038;feature=oembed\"  allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>5-<i> Von der Sch\u00f6nheit<\/i> from Das Lied von der Erde<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Well, the title \u201cOf Beauty\u201d offers quite a hint. Then there\u2019s the bit about the young maiden and the horse, which Freud would have loved. But it\u2019s the meltingly beautiful coda that really shows Mahler&#8217;s music at its sexiest.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Gustav Mahler- Von der Schoenheit\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/aramOhCom8Y?start=163&#038;feature=oembed\"  allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">O see the handsome young men galloping<br \/>\nthere along the shore on their lively horses,<br \/>\nglittering like sunbeams;<br \/>\nalready among the branches of the green willows,<br \/>\nthe fresh-faced young men are approaching!<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">The trotting horse of one whinnies merrily<br \/>\nand shies and canters away;<br \/>\nover flowers and grass, hooves are flying,<br \/>\ntrampling up a storm of fallen blossoms.<br \/>\nAh, how wildly its mane flutters,<br \/>\nhow hotly its nostrils flare!<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">The golden sun weaves among the figures,<br \/>\nmirroring them in the shiny water.<br \/>\nAnd the fairest of the young women sends<br \/>\na long, yearning gaze after him.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Her proud appearance is only a pretense.<br \/>\nIn the flash of her large eyes,<br \/>\nin the darkness of her ardent glance,<br \/>\nthe agitation of her heart leaps after him, lamenting.<\/p>\n<p><strong>4- Duo &#8220;<em>O Schmerz! Du Alldurchdringer!<\/em>&#8221; from Symphony no. 2<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Nothing particularly sexy about the text, or the context, but there is something very sensual about Mahler&#8217;s writing for the two women&#8217;s voices in this brief episode from just before the end of the symphony. The sound of the two singers&#8217; lines overlapping and dovetailing is really something- especially if you&#8217;re lucky enough to be standing between them.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Kerstmatinee 1984 - Mahler 2 - KCO \/ Haitink\" width=\"1080\" height=\"810\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/oUBx_Q-xw2M?start=4919&#038;feature=oembed\"  allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>3- Trio \u201c<i>Die du gro\u00dfen S\u00fcnderinnen<\/i>\u201d from Symphony no. 8 (Part II)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Again,\u00a0 when Mahler busts out the mandolin- you know the music is going to end up pretty sexy sooner or later. Listeners with a slightly juvenile perspective might find themselves tittering a bit when Mater Glorioso sings \u201cKomm, komm,\u201d but there\u2019s something irresistibly sexy about about the effect Mahler gets from three women\u2019s voices overlapping as they spin out \u201cyou who do not avert your gaze from women who sin.\u201d This passage in Mahler&#8217;s most gargantuan work has been compared with the &#8220;Sirens&#8221; scene from the Cohen&#8217;s &#8220;Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?&#8221; Maybe that&#8217;s wrong, maybe that&#8217;s right. Who am I to say?<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Sirens - O Brother, Where Art Thou? (5\/10) Movie CLIP (2000) HD\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_dl2L4v6ecM?feature=oembed\"  allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Mahler: 8. Sinfonie (\u00bbSinfonie der Tausend\u00ab) (I. Teil) \u2219 hr-Sinfonieorchester \u2219 Paavo J\u00e4rvi\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XSR4Xv8rwWI?start=3903&#038;feature=oembed\"  allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">You who do not avert your gaze<br \/>\nFrom women who have sinned<br \/>\nRaise into eternity<br \/>\nThe victory gained by repentance,<br \/>\nGrant also this poor soul,<br \/>\nWho only once forgot,<br \/>\nWho did not know that she erred,<br \/>\nYour forgiveness!<\/p>\n<p>Anyway, Mahler dedicated the Eighth to Alma, and the final lines of his Goethe setting are rich territory for anyone looking for juvenile <i>double entendres:<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Here finds fulfilment;<br \/>\nThe ineffable<br \/>\nHere is accomplished;<br \/>\nThe eternal feminine<br \/>\nbrings us up.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2-<i> \u201cIch atmet einen Lindenduft<\/i>\u201d from <i>Ruckert Lieder<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The <i>R\u00fcckert Lieder<\/i> may be Mahler\u2019s most consistently sexy piece. <i>Bliecke mir nicht in die Lieder <\/i>(\u201cDon\u2019t flirt with me when I\u2019m songwritin\u2019, baby\u201d) is wonderfully flirtatious, and <i>Liebst um Sch\u00f6nheit<\/i> (\u201cDon\u2019t love me \u2018cause I\u2019m hot, love me cause I love you, baby\u201d) wonderfully honest and open-hearted.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Mahler- Ruckert Lieder. Liebst du um Schonheit\" width=\"1080\" height=\"810\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2r8lwg0u0lM?feature=oembed\"  allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>But there\u2019s something about <em>Ich atmet einen Lindenduft<\/em> (\u201cI smell a sexy scent in the air tonight, baby\u201d) that is genuinely sensual. The ever-symbolic linden tree makes its second appearance on this list.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Mahler: &quot;Ich atmet&#039; einen linden Duft&quot; \/ Ko\u017een\u00e1 \u00b7 Rattle \u00b7 Berliner Philharmoniker\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qgyZSaewywk?feature=oembed\"  allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">I breathed a gentle fragrance!<br \/>\nIn the room stood<br \/>\na sprig of linden, a gift from a dear hand.<br \/>\nHow lovely was the fragrance of linden!<br \/>\nHow lovely is the fragrance of linden!<br \/>\nThat twig of linden you broke off so gently!<br \/>\nSoftly I breathe in the fragrance of linden,<br \/>\nthe gentle fragrance of love.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Finale- Symphony no. 10<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Perhaps because it\u2019s the last movement of his unfinished final symphony, or because it is \u00a0of the most beautiful, personal and profound things ever created by a human being, you might expect me to show a little of respect and not go bringing the whole \u201csex\u201d thing into a discussion of this valedictory work. But that\u2019s not how we roll at Vftp. Yes- I&#8217;m going there.<\/p>\n<p>Mahler wrote this movement while trying to rebuild his fractured relationship with Alma- the beautiful passage in the Finale that begins with the famous flute solo (in Cooke\u2019s realization, but also specified as for flute in Mahler&#8217;s sketch) is sexy in a very complicated, painful way. There is\u00a0 music with an almost unmatched, unmatchable depth of feeling: so much longing, ecstasy and intensity.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/youtu.be\/68aMxHpvrqU?t=3800<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>And what could be more devastating than when this passionate reverie is shattered by the recurrence of the hammer blows which open the movement? \u00a0Wagner may have written the composer\u2019s guide to milking the exquisite pain of unbearable longing pitted against absolute denial in Tristan und Isolde, but Mahler already showed in the Fifth Symphony that mixing sex and pain in music worked for more than just the leather-undies crowd.\u00a0 The music which follows this passionate outpouring is some of the most agonized ever written, culminating in a climax of shattering desolation (around 1:14:30 onward).<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/youtu.be\/68aMxHpvrqU?t=4413<\/p>\n<p>But in the final pages, the voice of love and longing returns, sexier than ever. A farewell to life or a return to the loving arms of his beloved? Haven\u2019t you been paying attention- with Mahler, it\u2019s never \u201csex\u201d or \u201cdeath,\u201d it\u2019s always \u201csex and death.\u201d On the final page of his final symphony, Mahler elevates longing, love and desire to a place of pure transcendence. The final string glissando is about as obviously passionate, sexy and ecstatic a gesture as you\u2019re ever going to hear in music, and here he writes \u201cALMSCHI!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/youtu.be\/68aMxHpvrqU?t=4819<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/mahler_10_score.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5678\" src=\"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/mahler_10_score.jpg\" alt=\"mahler_10_score\" width=\"300\" height=\"297\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/mahler_10_score.jpg 300w, https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/mahler_10_score-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The last page of the manuscript of Mahler&#8217;s last work. &#8220;f\u00fcr dich leben! f\u00fcr dich sterben! Almschi&#8221; (To live for you! To die for you!&#8211;Almschi!)<\/p>\n<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0;float:none;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/2014\/04\/09\/the-official-definitive-ultimate-real-top-ten-sexiest-moments-in-the-music-of-gustav-mahler\/\" send=\"false\" layout=\"box_count\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"true\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A few years ago, Julian Johnson\u2019s excellent book\u00a0 \u201cMahler\u2019s Voices\u201d had been languishing on various bookshelves here in an embarrassingly half-read state. &nbsp; Eventually, with a performance of Mahler&#8217;s Fifth Symphony on the horizon, I began skimming through relevant chapters. Almost immediately, I spied something a bit provocative (no pun intended) on the subject of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2,224],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-opion-life-as-a-performing-musician","category-mahler","category-mahler-in-manchester"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5672"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5672\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9188,"href":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5672\/revisions\/9188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}