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Majestic — Mahler’s 9th Played for Four Hands By Two Great Pianists
REVIEW:
Another beautiful night of music from Death of Classical was presented inside the gates of Greenwood Cemetery. The audience began the evening first with some fine spirits from the Kings County and Appalachian Gap Distilleries and some delicious tawny cider from Brooklyn Cider House in the main reception area. For an hour or so, we walked among the tombs and graves; marveled at the Coy fish and the animated green parrots. Discussed our future resting places and shared thoughts about cremation or traditional burial. What a conundrum. I watched the sky turn from blue to orange and saw the sun disappear to make way for the moon.
The quaint Greenwood trolley came to pick us up, to transport us to the catacombs where some famous New Yorkers from the state’s early days have been resting for centuries. Familiar names like Hicks and Van Rensselaer are carved in stone above each eerie doorway.
Jed Distler, one of the four hands playing the Mahler program, referenced Leonard Bernstein as one of the great interpreters of Mahler. Since Bernstein, a genius composer, is buried at Greenwood, Distler conjectured the possibility of a ghostly visit by the brilliant 20th Century American conductor. With his partner Jerome Kuderna the musicians played Mahler: Symphony №9 arranged for…
