No other symphony by Gustav Mahler has been subject to such a wide palette of readings and interpretations as the Seventh Symphony, from a scholarly and theoretical standpoint as well as by musicians, conductors and orchestras. It has been described as a «manifestation of elated sensual pleasure, a great Gloria» (in the foreword to the Philharmonia pocket score) and as having a «wholeness and formal coherence» with «mostly folkloric, thus memorable, themes» (critic Ernst Rychnovsky after the premiere in Prague in 1908). It has been accused of «disjointedness» (musicologist Attila Csampai), and of being a «very problematic work» (Mahler pioneer and conductor Otto Klemperer).

Might you have a reliable original edition of Modest Mussorgsky’s «Pictures at an Exhibition» for piano, that I could borrow? The request was made by Maurice Ravel in February 1922 to his friend «Calvo», full name Michel Dimitri Calvoressi, a Marseille-born British music critic and author with Greek roots. In the letter Ravel went so far as to underline the words «édition originale de Moussorgsky».