John Parker ([log in to unmask]) wrote:

>Bach for my musical pleasure.  And Beethoven...well, he is by far the
>superior composer to Mahler...there is greater depth, there is innovation,
>there is more subtlety and intelligence without forsaking great passion
>and intensity.

Yes Beethoven is a greater composer, but greater depth? I don't see what
you mean by this.  Is anything in Beethoven "deeper" than Der Abschied or
the first movement of the 9th, which no less a critic than Harold Truscott
described as (I paraphrase, as it's in volume 2 of the Penguin historiy of
the symphony, which I can't lay my hands on right now) one of the few works
to take up the challenge of Beethoven's late quartets?

And innovation.  Surely the greatest invective hurled at Mahler was
because his work is ridled with innovation.  There is also tremendous
subtlety - try analysing the phrase-structure of the main melody of the
2nd mvt of the Resurrection sometime, it's incredibly complex, yets sounds
so simple.

And none of this would have been possible without ferocious intelligence.

But then I, of course, am one of those who feels that it is almost
impossible to over-rate Mahler.

Deryk Barker
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