I keep meaning to grab hold of a bunch of his works, but I really have no idea where to begin. My interest in him is mostly sparked by the impact he had on his friend Thomas Mann and the resulting novella, Death in Venice, but also hearing him quoted in Fenn'O'berg and hearing an excerpt from the Symphony of a Thousand on the radio, which was just performed here in Boston.

Anyone? Is there anything I should maybe stay away from at first?

KPH

Stay away from Bill Maher.

Mahler's early stuff sounds a tiny bit like late era Beethoven, and isn't a bad place to start. His later stuff demonstrates more of his own voice. He's known more for his symphonies than anything else because he composed mainly over the summers, because he was too busy conducting during the rest of the year.

My favorites are Sym #8, 6, 5, and 1.

Mahler Grooves!

This was a big bumper sticker at Berkeley in the 60's.

I like reccomend starting with the Fifth.

First Symphony, "The Titan". It's tremendous, and better, IMHO, than any of Beethoven's.

The minor chord variation on Frere Jacques that underlies the Fourth Movement is one of my favorite passages in all music.

Get Maazel conducting the Vienna Phil. It's stellar. It's a Sony budget line, retailing for $10, it's used on Amazon for $6.

Here's the link:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000026PP/102-2862443-4395317?v=glance

As great as Mahler is, none of his work tops Beethoven Sym. #7, 2nd mvt.

But Lorin Maazel is a wickedly sharp conductor, i'll have to check him and the Vienna Phil doing Mahler #1. Thanks for the tip.