Last night, I was listening to Strauss's "Four Last Songs", and it
occurred to me how marvelous to have a work like that as a departure point
from this sad vale.  Not every composer is so fortunate (thinking of the
Mozart requiem, Mahler's 10th, and the Bruckner Ninth, among so many other
unfinished torsos).  The best of these final works seems not so much to
"sum up" a composer's life as to reflect upon it and also look "forward"
to ....  what? The unanswerable question, a matter of faith for many but
the music that resonates most deeply with me hasn't *got* a specific answer
- each one creates a unique atmosphere conducive to meditation on last
things.  Some of those that I find especially rewarding:

Arnold: Symphony #9 (OK, I'm jumping the gun...)
Beethoven: Op. 135
Brahms: 12 Chorale Preludes - (dark gems, unjustly neglected)
Schubert: D.960

I hope that other list members have some favorites they'd like to
recommend.

Mark
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