# Mahler, Bernstein and Critic Schonberg



## Erik Helm (Dec 31, 2007)

For those that are familiar with Harold Schonberg, the former NY Times music Critic, He was a thorn in the side of Leonard Bernstein. He also detested Gustav Mahler's works and ended up so closed minded and non objective that he marred his otherwise excellent book 'The Lives of the Great Composers' with an awful and regrettably shameful chapter on Mahler. (I should add that he was an excellent critic all-told) IMHO...

One wonders which came first, The antipathy towards Mahler's music and therefore by projection, the difficulty he had with Bernstein?
or...
Was it the frustration with Bernstein's interpretations of music and his championing of Mahler that led to Schonberg's detestation of Mahler? 

Looking forward to an interesting discussion....


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## david johnson (Jun 25, 2007)

be sure to also ask this at -

http://www.gustavmahlerboard.com/forum/

i have no info for you.

dj


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## Erik Helm (Dec 31, 2007)

Thanks for the link David.
Here is an example of the writing on Mahler by Schonberg
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DEFDB1E30F937A35754C0A96F948260


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## david johnson (Jun 25, 2007)

it would mean more if my first exposure to mahler recordings were not from the 50s, i.e., pre-bernstein-"invention".

doesn't make sense to me!

dj


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