The insight I will attempt to report here was so important to me that
I have been thinking about it for the last several days.  I hope some
"expert" reaction will help me process it.  So, with apologies in advance
for any deficiencies in my recapitulation of what I heard, here goes.

On Boston's WBUR conductor Benjamin Zander was speaking with host
Christopher Lydon about the upcoming Mahler 8 which the Boston Philharmonic
will be presenting.  Using the second movement of the Fifth Symphony as
his illustration he pointed to a passage where several instruments are
presenting very different messages simultaneously.  There is a melody, a
countermelody, odd motives, and other various comments.  He quoted a note
sent to him after rehearsal by the fourth flute: she said, "I feel like
the most important instrument in the orchestra."

As the music played behind him, Zander said that "You cannot get farther
from a melody riding along on a cushion of accompaniment than this." Like
the fourth flute, every voice competes to be "most important." The music
forces the listener to accomodate all of these voices.  He and the host
agreed that this "anticipates" aspects of the twentieth century where
each of us is absorbed in his/her "individual consciousness" unfettered
(unanchored?) by form.

The stylistic evolution from Brahms' music was cited and this is
where my question arises.  Certainly the "melody riding on a cushion of
accompaniment" describes homophonic music.  And, in Brahms and those who
inspired him, we see the beauty of polyphonic voices: multiple thoughts
but all related to each other and joined by formal properties.  So, if
Mahler represents something new; if it is neither homophonic or polyphonic;
what is it?

Certainly it is not cacaphonic!

How do we characterize this style? indeed what keeps it from disintegrating
into cacaphony? Is Mahler truly an innovator here or are there others
moving simultaneously towards this?

I hope I have done justice to Mr Zander and Mr Lydon in my reflections.  I
would welcome people's comments either privately or on the list.  It seems
to me that there is something here that can greatly aid my appreciation of
the early twetieth century music that I find so stimulating.

Ed