The Real Mahler

In Mahler, Jonathan Carr reexamines Mahler's life and work on through the circumstances leading to his death in 1911. The focus is on Mahler's last decade, his tempestuous marriage to the alluring Alma Schindler, his work as a "summer composer" in isolated huts in the country, his revolutionary achievements as director of the Vienna opera and his final years in America. But it sets the stage by looking into Mahler's earlier career as a talented, ambitious, and often ruthless, conductor.

The book includes a chronology of Mahler's life and makes suggestions for a CD collection.