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Tom Service discovers how Mahler was the first 'non-classical' classical composer.

Mahler's music - Huge eighty minute long symphonies, enormous orchestral forces, it should be thought of as the epitome of a complex cerebral classical music culture, surely?

Not if Mahler has anything to do with it.

Tom Service discovers how Mahler is the first non-classical Classical composer, how he happily harvested his tunes from everwhere from folk songs and children's rhymes to the landscape and nature, and how we as listeners are the most crucial part of them all and why he wanted every one of us to hear his music differently.

Available now

29 minutes

Last on

Sun 10 Dec 2017 17:00

Music Played

  • Gustav Mahler

    Symphony No 2 in C minor, 'Resurrection' (1st mvt)

    Orchestra: Berliner Philharmoniker. Conductor: Sir Simon Rattle. Singer: Magdalena Kožená. Singer: Kate Royal. Choir: Berlin Radio Choir. Conductor: Simon Halsey.
    • G. Mahler, Symphony no. 2 'Resurrection': Berliner Philharmoniker/Rattle.
    • EMI Classics.
    • 1.
  • Gustav Mahler

    Symphony no. 8 - finale

    Performer: Berlin Radio Choir. Performer: Prague philharmonischer Chor. Performer: Tölzer Knabenchor. Performer: Berliner Philharmoniker. Performer: Claudio Abbado.
    • DG.
  • Gustav Mahler

    Symphony No. 3 In D Minor, i. Kräftig Entschieden

    Orchestra: Budapest Festival Orchestra. Conductor: Iván Fischer.
    • Channel Classics : CCS SA 38817.
    • Channel Classics.
    • 1.
  • Gustav Mahler

    Symphony no.4 - 1st movement

    Performer: Claudio Abbado. Performer: Vienna Philharmonic.
    • DG.
  • Gustav Mahler

    Symphony no.6 - 1st movement

    Performer: New York Philharmonic. Performer: Leonard Bernstein.
    • CBS.
  • Gustav Mahler

    Symphony no.7 - 4th movement 'Nachtmusik;

    Performer: Claudio Abbado. Performer: Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
    • DG.
  • Gustav Mahler

    Theme from G. Mahler's 1st Symphony

    Performer: Giora Feidman Trio. Music Arranger: Giora Feidman.
    • Plane.
  • Gustav Mahler

    Symphony no.3 - 3rd movement

    Performer: Claudio Abbado. Performer: Vienna Philharmonic.
    • DG.
  • Gustav Mahler

    Symphony No 1 in D major, 'Titan' (1st mvt)

    Conductor: Leonard Bernstein. Orchestra: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.
    • 111 Years Of Deutsche Grammophon The Collector's Edition Vol.2.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
  • John Williams

    March of the Resistance

    Performer: Studio Orchestra.
    • Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
    • Walt Disney Records.
  • Jerry Orbach

    Be Our Guest - from Beauty and the Beast

    Performer: Studio Orchestra.
    • The Very Best of Disney.
    • Pickwick.
  • Gustav Mahler

    Symphony no.3 - 1st movement

    Performer: New York Philharmonic. Performer: Leonard Bernstein.
    • CBS.
  • Gustav Mahler

    Symphony no. 1 in D major ..., 3rd movement

    Performer: Budapest Festival Orchestra. Performer: Iván Fischer.
    • Channel Classics.
  • Gustav Mahler

    Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (1999 Digital Remaster): IV: Die zwei blauen Aug

    Singer: Janet Baker. Conductor: John Barbirolli. Orchestra: Hallé.
    • Mahler: Kindertotenlieder - 5 RĂĽckertlieder - Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 114.
  • Gustav Mahler

    Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen (RĂĽckert-Lieder)

    Singer: Janet Baker. Orchestra: Hallé. Conductor: John Barbirolli.
    • Mahler: Kindertotenlieder - 5 RĂĽckertlieder - Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen.
    • Warner Classics.

Broadcast

  • Sun 10 Dec 2017 17:00

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