Word: mahlers
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...easy to dismiss Gilbert Kaplan as just another rich New Yorker with a hobby he can afford. Kaplan, 55, former publisher of Institutional Investor magazine, is mad for Mahler. Through his private Kaplan Foundation, formed a decade ago, he has immersed himself in the composer's life and music, tracking down every extant photograph of Mahler for a book and issuing a facsimile of Mahler's score of the Symphony No. 2, better known as the "Resurrection" Symphony--which just happens to be the object of Kaplan's special passion...
...Kaplan's Mahler fixation extends to actually stepping up on a podium and conducting the Second Symphony. Since his debut at Manhattan's Lincoln Center 14 years ago with the American Symphony Orchestra, rented for the occasion, he has led the lone, magnificent work in his repertoire nearly 50 times, with 31 different orchestras...
...weeks ago, Kaplan gave his most significant performance yet. He led the London Philharmonia Orchestra through his signature piece on the opening night of the prestigious, snooty Salzburg Festival, not far from one of the Alpine lakes where Mahler composed the sprawling, five-movement work a century ago. Predictably, some critics did dismiss the event forthwith. "A multimillionaire's cold flirt," complained one; "no trace of Viennese charm," groused another. Austrians have long been loath to admit that anyone other than themselves can properly perform the Austro-German classics, and few would care to admit to an American's mastery...
...that of a primus inter pares than a Prussian autocrat from the old school. He talks frequently, calling up vivid images to illustrate his interpretative intention. "This is an old fiddler who can hardly pick up his instrument," he says during the rehearsal of a plaintive string passage in Mahler. "And then he gets stronger and stronger, and suddenly it all comes back!" When he's happy with the ways things are going, he lets the band know. "You make the music," he shouts. "I listen to it and adjust...
...conductors as Christoph Eschenbach, Vladimir Ashkenazy and Marek Janowski, Tilson Thomas was the favorite from the outset. He first guest-conducted the orchestra back in 1974, and over the years had led it more than 100 times. His easy and knowing way with music as disparate as Beethoven and Mahler symphonies, Ravel and Stravinsky ballets, and American music from Charles Ives to Steve Reich also pleased the search committee, as did the fact that Tilson Thomas is an American...