Art Scott writes:

>You could argue that Mahler the conductor would certainly be aware of
>audience noise problems, but wrote it that way anyhow.  Still, if he'd
>lived to perform the work a few times I wonder whether he might not have
>altered the ending.

Had he lived to even attend a public performance by any other
conductor(premiered by Walter in 1912) he might well have changed several
things.  Then again, let us remember the five minute pause Mahler calls for
between the first and second movement of his second symphony.  Does anyone
actually do this even when listening to a CD in the relative silence of
one's own home?

Thomas Heilman