That's true. Usually I try to avoid using "classical" music, but I've given up on that. I would normally say Baroque, Classical, Romantic, etc. But that is not accepted practice and so I gave in.
This is a particularly good thread. Once, long ago, I was not into classical music (there I go) with the human voice. I just wasn't ready. So for that reason I was not into Mahler. I took a "Symphony" class which had a great guide written by Edward Downes. This was a collection of program notes on various works. I read through them and become floored when I read the descriptions of Mahler's works, and the stories behind them. I rushed out and listened to the Titan and was transformed. I instantly purchased his complete works on Amazon. It remains my best purchase.
There is so much feeling in Mahler that everything else seems subdued. That can turn some folks off, but being a hopeless neurotic like the G-man I find it perfection itself. There's a Mahler symphony for whichever mood you're in.
I guess I can't understand when folks don't like Mahler. Maybe like my old self they weren't yet ready. Or maybe they just don't like it, plain and simple. I force people to listen and when they respond coldly I am shocked. But I guess when you love something you want everyone else to love it too. I see myself as something of a missionary spreading the music of Mahler. I played it on my college radio station, and wrote about it in our newsletter (it was a prog rock station, but I am friends with the ExecBoard and the newsletter editor).
I'm going to stop rambling now. Honestly.
Dear Cyclopean Squid,
I understand what you mean regarding the terms that we use. My own way of using the terms is to recognize that properly speaking, "Classical" relates to a pretty specific sort of music during a pretty specific era, but that the term is also broadly used to refer to a very wide range of music.
I think about the range of music played by our local classical music station - all the way from Renaissance music up through stuff done in the 20th century. Or the main classical radio station on XM Satellite Radio (where, by the way, they don't stint on Mahler), where the slogan is, "The greatest music of the last thousand years." * chuckle *
That seems like a fair enough broad working definition for the term.
Mahler - eh. His music just doesn't ring my bells. I get chills down my spine from Bach and Vivaldi. I can be entranced by Beethoven. I thrill to Gershwin. Even with Wagner, I have some emotional response (although not all positive). But not with Mahler.
Oh well.
sitetest