Deryk Barker wrote:

 [An account of Mahler's 8th as it appeared under his name in the Victoria
Times-Colonist which included the following]
>
>Later, the transition to the coda brings one of Mahler's most gorgeous
>cadences, from the celestial E major (unattainable perfection, as
>Donald Mitchell suggests) to the home key of E flat (considered a
>sacred key, because of the Trinity of flats).

I didn't know that.  I should have thought an even more sacred key in the
German speaking world would then have been A major w/ its three sharps,
which in German are called "Kreuze" or "crosses".

>And to paraphrase Dr.  Johnson: there is no performance of Mahler's 8th
>so inconsiderable that I would not rather hear it than not.

With all those negatives piled on top of each other, I'm not sure
whether it's I, Deryk or Dr.  Johnson who's lost track, but shouldn't
the paraphrase read, "there is no performance...so inconsiderable that
I would rather not hear it than do so"?

Walter Meyer