A new book about Mahler:

"Gustav Mahler: Vienna--Triumph and Disillusion (1904-1907)"
by Henry-Louis de La Grange

   http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=019315160X/classicalnetA/

Henry-Louis de La Grange's colossal research on Gustav Mahler's life and
works--extending over three decades--has yielded a vast and comprehensive
biography, one that may end up being evaluated as a musician's equivalent
to Leon Edel's legendary monument to Henry James.  This penultimate number
in the four projected volumes (which have drawn from acres of archival
material, including documents, autographs, and pictures) centers on the
cataclysmic yet fecund years 1904 to 1907.  In this installment, we observe
Mahler as the conductor at the Vienna Hofoper while he continued his
titanic efforts as a composer.  Among the personal struggles and tragedies
of these years are the death of his eldest daughter, growing marital
tensions with Alma, anti-Semitic pressures within the opera, and the
recognition of his grave health.  It's a rich portrait offering many
perspectives from Mahler's contemporaries and synthesizing much of the
wisdom since gleaned about this tremendously complex human.

Mohammed Iqbal