Tony Duggan replied to me: >>Whenever I listen to the Adagio I can't help but compare it to the Adagio >>from Mahler's 9th -- this time when I made the comparison I felt that the >>Bruckner Adagio was the true source, and the Mahler Adagio was sort of an >>imitation (Let's see if anyone is reading this -- if so, I expect some >>`heated rebuttals:-). > >Why rebuttals The only observation I would make is that you give >the impression that you are the first person to have noticed this. I didn't mean to leave that impression. It's so easy to hear the similarities between the two Adagios (especially the opening notes) that I figure it must be a pretty common observation. In fact, I think I read somewhere of similarity. The rebuttals I'm expecting are to my impression that the Bruckner Adagio is "more authentic" than Mahler's. >I quote from Mahler's paramount biographer, Henry-Louis de La Grange. >After citing a letter from Mahler about Bruckner's Ninth in which Mahler >dismisses Bruckner's Symphony as "the height of nonsense", de La Grange >adds this footnote: > >"Mahler's harsh verdict on Bruckner's Ninth is tempered by >the fact that the Finale of his own Ninth clearly bears the >mark of the lasting impression that Bruckner's final Adagio >had made on him." That's very interesting. I'm surprised that Mahler judged anything by Bruckner harshly, especially the Adagio of Bruckner's Ninth. -Mike