mahler’s instrumentation is consistently massive but usually has normal instruments. i think only the sixth is particularly strange with the hammer, and the next weirdest symphony might be the seventh with its mandolin, guitar, cowbells, etc. his fourth could also be considered weird since it’s scored for an unusually small orchestra, especially for a mahler symphony.
pretty sure he never used a bag of sticks, but yeah mahler can still be crazy. only really rivaled by strauss imo. strauss’s Alpine Symphony is probably the most insane thing i’ve ever seen performed, for me beating mahler 2 and 3 (though i still like them more overall)
Fair enough. I should have said ‘everything insane that I remember is Mahler.’ I would swear I remember a bag of sticks in something I was performing in though.
mahler’s instrumentation is consistently massive but usually has normal instruments. i think only the sixth is particularly strange with the hammer, and the next weirdest symphony might be the seventh with its mandolin, guitar, cowbells, etc. his fourth could also be considered weird since it’s scored for an unusually small orchestra, especially for a mahler symphony. pretty sure he never used a bag of sticks, but yeah mahler can still be crazy. only really rivaled by strauss imo. strauss’s Alpine Symphony is probably the most insane thing i’ve ever seen performed, for me beating mahler 2 and 3 (though i still like them more overall)
Fair enough. I should have said ‘everything insane that I remember is Mahler.’ I would swear I remember a bag of sticks in something I was performing in though.