Mahler in mind

In my early 20s I shared a large mouldering Victorian house in Crouch End, north London. The four of us were all broke and underemployed: there was a half-finished art installation in the hallway and there were mice in the kitchen. We spent a lot of time drinking cheap wine and playing music. Jack, studying music at Goldsmiths, was going through a Mahler period and I always associate Mahler’s symphonies with that time and especially with drunkenly sliding down the banisters to the blaring of the First Symphony’s climax, swooping and wiping out on the hallway floor to a fanfare.

I’ve been getting Mahler-ed up this week in a more sedate fashion, as Radio 3 have been broadcasting the London Symphony Orchestra’s cycle of Mahler’s Symphonies. You can find the studio recordings of this cycle here on eMusic. They’re great recordings and make me regret the lack of stairs and banisters in my current flat.