Mitch Friedfeld to Robert Stumpf:

>>I mean, if you had to select one of his symphonies as "typical" as perhaps
>>an introduction to his 'sound world' which one and why?
>
>I think M1 and M5 are "typical." M1 for its innovation, yet all the while
>redolent of the Wunderhorn songs.  And you want sound world? There's
>nothing that proclaims a unique sound world like the start of M1.  M5 for
>the "totally new style" of composing, yet containing a funeral march ...

I would mention the 4th symphony or (better) the 7th.  The start of
M1 still sounds to me as a picnic at the forest of Sigfried (even with
"Ging heut' morgen" in it:  instead of "der lust'ge fink", one could
expect a dragon...).  I love the fifth symphony, but it's so...mahlerian.
Yes, that could be a "typical" example, but it's not necessarily the best
introduction to Mahler's sound.  Mahler's lieder, however, are better than
his symphonies to introduce his sound world.  Remember that one ("Mutter,
ach mutter, es hungert mich..."):  the fourth, sixth and tenth symphonies
are contained in it.  (Hey, don't spit on me, I began to hear Mahler
through his symphonies too!).

Pablo Massa
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