# The Little Drummer Boy - An Essay On Gustav Mahler by and with Leonard Bernstein



## Aramis

This cover accidentally caught my eye today:










Anyone saw it? Is it some kind of documental movie? Is it good? I already seen Bernstein talking about Mahler in DVDs containing rehearsals from symphonies cycle and his introduction about DLvE, does this release bring something new and interesting?


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## Wicked_one

I saw it  Yes, it some kind of documentary on Mahler's life, Jewishness and music, but I haven't seen the one where he talks about DLvE. As usual, his monologue is often interrupted by long examples of his recordings or playing excerpts at the piano in the hot breeze of Israel (no kidding!).

I do remember that he also tries to demonstrate that in every Mahler's symphony there's a funeral march and the irregular beat in the 1st movement of the 9th is the heart condition that Mahler had.

Wish I could tell you more, but as soon as I find the time to watch it again, maybe I'll write a better review on it. I don't remember if there was something new or not, but as a Mahler fan I kinda had to have it, lol. 

Cheers!


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## Delicious Manager

I saw this documentary too and remember precisely the same points as Wicked_one. It's worth seeing if you like Bernstein and/or Mahler, but don't take EVERYTHING Bernstein says as gospel. However, I think there IS a funeral march somewhere in every Mahler symphony!


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## World Violist

Delicious Manager said:


> However, I think there IS a funeral march somewhere in every Mahler symphony!


Not in the 8th.

I haven't seen this, but when I was interested in Bernstein's Mahler I was very interested in seeing it.


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## Wicked_one

World Violist said:


> Not in the 8th.


It's in the 8th as well, Bernstein says, and the example was from the 2nd movement, right in the beginning when the clarinets and flutes play that lovely and creepy melody.


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## World Violist

Wicked_one said:


> It's in the 8th as well, Bernstein says, and the example was from the 2nd movement, right in the beginning when the clarinets and flutes play that lovely and creepy melody.


I suppose it could be if you take it as such, but I don't. I get the feeling Bernstein was getting all mystical and casting about for completist thought when he used that example. It's hardly a march (too light-footed IMO).


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## Delicious Manager

I think the beginning of the second movement of the 8th counts as a funeral march (or at the very least a 'funereal' march).


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## Mozart555

The problem is Bernstein was obsessed with Mahler's Jewishness. His Jewishness informed his music very little, most of what he did was very much in the Austro-German tradition, with his own contribution naturally. The only references to Jewish music are the klezmer music in the first and some references in the 7th, and in both these cases he is trying to evocate scenes of daily life rather than identify with his Jewishness. He was in fact ashamed of being a Jew, as he had grown up to believe that being a Jew was something to be ashamed of.


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