Mike Leghorn wrote:

>Your synopsis of the Adagio is very interesting.  I don't remember
>from my most recent listening if I got the same impressions.  Some
>impressions that I do remember were: 1) Whenever I listen to the Adagio
>I can't help but compare it to the Adagio from Mahler's 9th -- this time
>when I made the comparison I felt that the Bruckner Adagio was the true
>source, and the Mahler Adagio was sort of an imitation (Let's see if
>anyone is reading this -- if so, I expect some heated rebuttals:-).

Why rebuttals The only observation I would make is that you give
the impression that you are the first person to have noticed this.
I quote from Mahler's paramount biographer, Henry-Louis de La Grange.
After citing a letter from Mahler about Bruckner's Ninth in which Mahler
dismisses Bruckner's Symphony as "the height of nonsense", de La Grange
adds this footnote:

   "Mahler's harsh verdict on Bruckner's Ninth is tempered by
   the fact that the Finale of his own Ninth clearly bears the
   mark of the lasting impression that Bruckner's final Adagio
   had made on him."

So you are in good company in making a connection.

Tony Duggan