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