Entry #102
- Listening to:
- Mahler, symphony no. 10. This symphony is one that Mahler never
finished himself, but which was subsequently published as a
"performing version of Mahler's draft". Mahler's
wife was initially suspicious of the project to do this, but was
apparently brought round to the idea on hearing the initial
performances of this version. It does sound like
Mahler, and there doesn't seem much argument against letting the
world in on music that would otherwise be accessible only to
musicologists, who would be forced to imagine it as they read
the manuscripts.
Elgar's third symphony was recently turned into a performable
work in a similar way.
I rang the water company this morning to pay our bill. They put me on
hold for a little while and played me some music. It was a familiar baroque
piece (but not Vivaldi's
Four Seasons I hasten to add),
and I thought "Good on them for putting something interesting
on". A few seconds later, I realised that the familiar music
was in fact Handel's
Water music. Nice! I felt like
congratulating the operator who eventually answered the phone and
talked to me.
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