Sawasdee ka, Came to your blog via Pantip - your kratoo on Barenboim to be precise, but since I don't have a log-in (even though I have been lurking in the Classical forum for ages - and never contributing, which is naughty of me, I know, given that it is quite a quiet forum and could do with more lively discussions), I thought I would leave a comment on your blog instead.

Anyway, I went to the whole Barenboim series (and was lucky enough to be in the front row choir seat). Magical. Of course, listening to the whole Beethoven 32 live is an experience in itself, but the thing with Barenboim recitals is that they are as much about his charisma and effect on the audience as the music. It may not be the best Beethoven playing ever, but it is rare to find the whole auditorium mesmerised. (I went to his Bach 48 cycle a couple of years ago as well and didn't like it, though. Angela Hewitt is playing that this year and you would think the pieces were written for the piano...)

As a side note, I particularly like the way Barenboim walked around the stage and seemed to almost thank the audience one by one. Oh, and Mitsuko Uchida was in the audience for 3 or 4 of the performances; it was fun trying to spot her.

Sorry this is quite long and unrelated to your entry above (apart from saying I am not a Mahler fan at all although I do agree with your last sentence - there are at least one performances of Mahler symphonies per month here in London)

PS> You probably are aware of it, but Mahler did have a brush with composing an opera early in his career when he completed one of Weber's unfinished (comic?) opera. The reason Mahler never wrote one is widely debated and I can't substantiate the following as I've read it somewhere some time ago. The mainstream view is that in line with Wagnerism, music for Mahler is not only about technique but also incorporates some sort of 'philosophical seriousness' and being a perfectionist, it is simply too much to work-rework-rehearse-rework a whole opera to get everything 'just right' and without imitating Wagner, especially as, in his view, opera is a form of high arts and not mere theatrical entertainment. There is also another view that many of his symphonies, the 8th(?) in particular which is based on Faust, are in fact operatic pieces along the line of Handel/Haydn oratorios and using instruments in place of voices.

PS2> If you haven't, try Pollini for the late Beethoven sonatas as well