It cheers me up to see that Mahler can still cause controversy.
However, I'm having trouble following the discussion.  What do folks
mean by "perfect" and "messy" as applied to the symphonies?  I can think
of weak passages in something like the finale to the First (as far as
I'm concerned, a wonderful symphony anyway), but who's written a perfect
symphony, and which one?  And is a perfect symphony the same thing as a
good symphony?

Steve Schwartz