Satoshi writes on Mahler:

>Even faced with his own imminent death and a faltering faith in a
>resurrection in the Beyond he still had to clasp at straws and believe
>in the Eternal in the form of an eternally self-perpetuating Nature
>Mysticism..

Hmmm.

But look at the finale of the Ninth.  There are basically two themes.
A: the emotional opening theme on strings, and B: the rather disquieting
ascending theme first introduced by contrabassoon and cellos.  Let's call
the A theme "yearning for life," and the B: theme "fear of death."
(Forgive me, I'm on lunch break.)

As the themes alternate, look how Mahler changes them.  The A theme
becomes progressively more intense with each appearance, and, most
importantly for our conversation, the B theme becomes cooler and more
benign.  Almost seductive.  Compare its first and rather disquieting
appearance on contrabassoon, (how the sound smells like wet earth!),
starting on the downbeat and creeping up the minor scale with strings
hovering in the stratosphere, to its final gentle appearance on English
horn flanked by harp minor thirds and cool, low-lying flutes.

If Mahler were grasping at straws and struggling against death, shouldn't
the Death theme and the Life theme *both* increase in intensity?

John Smyth