Experiencing Mahler surveys the symphonies and major song sets of Gustav Mahler, presenting them not just as artworks but as vivid and deeply felt journeys. Mahler took the symphony, perhaps the most tradition-bound genre in Western music, and opened it to the widest span of human experience. He introduced themes of love, nature, the chasmic depth of midnight, making peace with death, facing rebirth, seeking one’s creator, and being at one with God. Arved Ashby offers the non-specialist a general introduction into Mahler’s seemingly unbounded energy to investigate the elements that make each work an experiential adventure—one that has redefined the symphonic genre in new ways.

In addition to the standard nine symphonies, Ashby discusses Das Lied von der Erde, the three most commonly heard song sets (the Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, Kindertotenlieder, and Rückert-Lieder), and the unfinished Tenth Symphony (in Cooke’s edition).

Experiencing Mahler is a far-reaching and often provocative search for meaning in the music of one of the most beloved composers of all time.

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Highly Recommended: [Experiencing Mahler] will be appreciated by music lovers at all levels of expertise. The book is valuable as a journey through Mahler's oeuvre with an intelligent and perceptive companion, and as a good excuse to revisit the work of a most important but often misunderstood modern classical composer.

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Ashby takes the reader on an informed tour of each work . . . Describing music with words is difficult, but Ashby is an engaging writer . . . What sets his book apart from similar efforts are CD timestamps . . . that allow readers to “drop the needle” on exactly what is being discussed at a given moment.