Mahler 3 Podcast 1

Mahler’s Third is his “Pastoral Symphony.” It seems propelled throughout by nature’s bold power. The opening march represents the arrival of spring in the Austrian Alps—the earth groans, giant ice sheets crack, and cataracts spill forth from mountain streams. The middle movements move in stages up the Great Chain of Being, from raw matter, through many varieties of forms of life, and ultimately to the realm of the spirit. Mahler originally intended to call the overwhelming and majestic final movement “What God Tells Me,” understanding God “in the only way we can experience Him, as pure love.”