{"id":46542,"date":"2024-08-20T11:27:03","date_gmt":"2024-08-20T09:27:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/78cb6d98-5025-47c1-9a53-49e0b8cf65cd"},"modified":"2024-08-20T12:07:16","modified_gmt":"2024-08-20T10:07:16","slug":"outsider-music-or-ranting-hyperbole-what-is-mahlers-music-actually-about","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/outsider-music-or-ranting-hyperbole-what-is-mahlers-music-actually-about\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Outsider music’ or ranting hyperbole: what is Mahler’s music actually about?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By <\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 20 August 2024 at 09:27 AM<\/p>

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‘Mahler is always seeking redemption. I don\u2019t know what I\u2019m supposed to be redeemed from.\u2019<\/p>

So said composer Richard Strauss<\/a><\/strong>, whose shrewd words continue to resonate today, in an era when Gustav Mahler\u2019s music is popular in a way that even the composer himself could barely have contemplated. Recordings of the symphonies proliferate, orchestras schedule his output serially, and audiences queue to hear it.<\/p>

And yet Mahler<\/a><\/strong> still divides listeners. The conductor Leonard Bernstein<\/a><\/strong> said his compositions \u2018showered a rain of beauty on this world that has not been equalled since\u2019, and many agree with him.<\/p>