As some readers may have been following my comments on LinkedIn, I recently experienced an "Alzheimer's moment" with a very recognizable musical theme. After searching online through several "Name That Tune" engines, even enlisting the aid of my uncle, a musician par excellence with whom I used to play name-that-tune games, I came up short. Could not identify that tune. I stayed awake at night playing and replaying it in my mind, searching the memory banks. Nada. Silence. Not a clue. I wrote of my frustrtions on LinkedIn, and a brave soul offered to let me sing it to him, and voilà! He identified it! It was the finale to Mahler' First Symphony, the Titan.
I pulled up several recordings of the 4th movement of the Titan on YouTube, but the one of which I am writing now is the one conducted by Leonard Bernstein. I'm so glad that man doesn't use hair spray! He is one of the most expressive conductors out there! The entire clip is as much about him as it is about Mahler! Every note seems etched on Bernstein's face, every anticpated switch in tempo, every climactic crescendo - it's a pleasure to watch!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LA3RevCdZNs&feature=related
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