Customer Reviews

Symphony No. 2 in C Minor: "Resurrection" (Dover Miniature Music Scores)

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Dover's entire line of miniature scores is great for anyone who wishes to have a deeper knowledge of great orchestral works without paying $20 or more the full-sized version. I own the 8 of Mahler's 9 symphonies that Dover offers in this series (the 7th Symphony is currently unavailable) and have been very pleased with them. The print is large enough to be easy to read without having to deal with a cumbersome full-sized score.

Gustav Mahler is one of the last truely great symphony writers. His orchestrations are vast and his use of tone shows his true mastery of composition. This edition is the perfect book for any music lover, especially Mahler fans. It is small enough to slip easily into a purse or jacket pocket for use in the concert hall or in a bookbag or backpack for school. It is ideal for the professional conductor and compsoer as well as the music fan who wishes to own a written copy of the greatest symphony ever written. Also, its wide margins are perfect for note taking or analysis. This is truely the perfect score for the music lover. I own about 5 and plan on adding to my collection very shortly. Other great Dover items include the miniature scores for Beethoven's 5th and 9th symphonies, which are among the standard literature for every major orchestra worldwide, and the miniature score of Mozart's powerful Requiem Mass in D minor.

I did not think it was even possible to get a score so complete that I was able to reduce it to bass & treble, so as to play it on a regular keyboard. Playing the final "Auferstehn" chorale with all the correct chording and passing notes in the correct key is captivating, dizzying, addictive, and so very lush! It was 50 years between when I first heard the "Resurrection" and when I could play the final chorale for myself. But even more than that, it is such a priviledge to follow the whole work with the score. I feel any true "Mahlerite" would be thrilled to death with it!

As the others have said, the score is small enough to be convenient and large enough to read for the most part, although there are two or three pages where some staves are faded slightly. I just wish that there was a glossary of some sort or a translation of all of Mahler's orchestral markings.