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Embrace Everything - The World of Gustav Mahler

by Aaron Cohen

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Latest episodes

  • The Rückert Lieder - Episode 7: “Paving the Way to Mahler’s Fifth Symphony”

    July 23, 2026 · 15 min

    “The Rückert Lieder” were an integral milestone on Gustav Mahler’s journey to his Fifth Symphony. In this episode we demonstrate the musical and philosophical connections. ***** Starring: *JAMES LURIE as the voice of Gustav Mahler *LAURA…

  • The Rückert Lieder - Episode 6: “If You Love for Beauty”

    July 21, 2026 · 17 min

    The only love song Gustav Mahler ever wrote was “If You Love for Beauty.” It was a gift for his wife Alma during their first summer together in 1902. ***** Starring: *JAMES LURIE as the voice of Gustav Mahler Guests include: *THOMAS…

  • The Rückert Lieder - Episode 5: “I Am Lost to the World”

    July 16, 2026 · 19 min

    “I Am Lost to the World” is widely considered Gustav Mahler’s greatest song. In this episode we discover why it continues to move listeners so profoundly. ***** Starring: *JAMES LURIE as the voice of Gustav Mahler *LAURA GRAGTMANS as the…

  • The Rückert Lieder - Episode 4: “At Midnight”

    July 14, 2026 · 19 min

    In Friedrich Rückert’s poem “At Midnight,” Gustav Mahler found the perfect lyrics to pair with his haunting score. The combination illustrates Mahler’s ongoing questioning of faith and search for God. ***** Starring: *JAMES LURIE as the…

  • The Rückert Lieder - Episode 3: “Do Not Look into My Songs”

    July 9, 2026 · 8 min

    One of Friedrich Rückert’s poems argued for privacy during the creative process. No wonder the lyrics resonated with Gustav Mahler, who was inspired to create “Do Not Look Into My Songs.” ***** Starring: *JAMES LURIE as the voice of Gustav…

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  • The Rückert Lieder - Episode 2: “I Breathed a Gentle Fragrance”

    July 7, 2026 · 14 min

    Gustav Mahler’s song “I Breathed a Gentle Fragrance” endeavors to capture the intoxicating smell of the Linden tree. He wrote it for someone dear to him. ***** Starring: *JAMES LURIE as the voice of Gustav Mahler *LAURA GRAGTMANS as the…

  • The Rückert Lieder - Episode 1: “Mahler and Rückert”

    July 7, 2026 · 13 min

    After a traumatic health scare in 1901, Gustav Mahler found consolation in the words of poet Friedrich Rückert. Mahler adopted Rückert’s voice as his own in a new series of songs. ***** Starring: *JAMES LURIE as the voice of Gustav…

  • Special Season - The Rückert Lieder

    July 1, 2026 · 2 min

    This special season focuses on Mahler’s Rückert Lieder, a collection of five songs based on texts by the poet Friedrich Rückert. The season opens by exploring the circumstances that led Mahler to compose his Rückert Lieder, then goes in…

  • Movement Four - The Heavenly Life (S4, Ep.4)

    July 11, 2025 · 36 min

    Mahler composed the song “The Heavenly Life” in 1892, seven years before using it as the last movement of his Fourth Symphony. In this episode we discuss the meaning of the song and its lyrics. ***** Starring: *JAMES LURIE as the voice of…

  • Movement Three - St. Ursula's Smile (S4, Ep.3)

    July 9, 2025 · 33 min

    In the third movement of his Fourth Symphony, Mahler introduces a different kind of humor, one that inspires both laughter and tears at the same time. ***** Starring: *JAMES LURIE as the voice of Gustav Mahler *LAURA GRAGTMANS as the voice…

  • Movement Two - Freund Hein Strikes Up the Dance (S4, Ep.2)

    July 8, 2025 · 26 min

    In the second movement of Mahler’s Fourth Symphony, we begin our journey toward heaven. But the path is going to take some surprising twists.  ***** Starring: *JAMES LURIE as the voice of Gustav Mahler *LAURA GRAGTMANS as the voice of…

  • Movement One - Mahler's Laughter (S4, Ep.1)

    July 7, 2025 · 37 min

    Mahler’s Fourth Symphony is his most playful composition, and one that he originally called a “Symphonic Humoresque.” In the first movement, we hear a side of Mahler we haven’t heard before. ***** Starring: *JAMES LURIE as the voice of…

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About the show

The Embrace Everything podcast series is an exploration and celebration of the music of Gustav Mahler. Throughout his life Mahler insisted that music had to, literally, embrace everything. This makes his compositions unusually rich in what they offer both audience and musicians. It’s often delightfully quirky one moment and then deeply tragic the next. Mahler did not shy away from introducing the most low-brow, commonplace musical tune alongside the most radiantly sublime words in all of spiritual literature. Gustav Mahler meant what he said: music has to embrace everything. Each season of the series explores a different Mahler symphony. The series already includes more than 100 interviews with leading conductors, music scholars, and orchestral musicians—all of whom have extensive first-hand experience with the music, offering an abundance of insights into just what makes Mahler’s music so unique. Additionally, comments from Mahler and his contemporaries are read by actors throughout the programs. Each episode explores how Mahler drew not just from the world of music but from the other arts, from the world of nature, and from life itself. Anything that attracted Mahler’s attention was liable to find its way into the music. How did he do this? That’s something each episode investigates. Interviews thus far include members of the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic, and the London Symphony Orchestra. Embrace Everything has topped podcast charts around the world. The series reached #1 on the Apple Music Commentary, Music History, or Music charts in more than 25 countries and has won 15 international awards in the last three years.