Most Beautiful Passages of Each Mahler Symphony

[@VincentGiza-Composer]

We need a “Most badass moments from each Mahler symphony” video! Anyone agree? Nice job with your videos! I always learn so much watching you!

[@EElgar1857]

Yes, and there are countless examples from which to choose! Just the 7th Symphony could keep you busy for days. 😁😅

[@VincentGiza-Composer]

@@EElgar1857 Absolutely!!! Mahler 2 is my personal favorite, and it has got a TON of badass moments!

[@jackdennis9286]

@@VincentGiza-Composerthe col legno bit in movement 1 🤩

[@gustavmahler1324]

Mahler approves of this! Great work my man!

[@Richard.Atkinson]

Thank you Mahler! I'm honored to have you commenting on my video from beyond the grave!

[@Mathi80]

he may add from the grave: "as long as you don't neglect the other 4580 passages of most intense beauty that I crafted into these children of mine"

[@vikli5966]

Gustav Mahler Hi! I love your works

[@GreenTeaViewer]

@@vikli5966 that's not the real Mahler

[@vikli5966]

magicwheel1 yeah lol no shit he’s dead.

[@matteogenerani5097]

0:11 - Symphony #1 4:22 - Symphony #2 8:08 - Symphony #3 11:24 - Symphony #4 16:20 - Symphony #5 20:09 - Symphony #6 23:22 - Symphony #7 26:01 - Symphony #8 28:26 - Symphony #9

[@jonyblum]

Thanks

[@Jimbarleyy]

🙏🏻

[@estel5335]

Grazie ragazzo

[@Richard.Atkinson]

Thanks for this! I'll use these to create chapters.

[@matteogenerani5097]

@@Richard.Atkinson it’s an honor from you, I love your videos, keep doing what you are doing ❤️

[@hgjfkd12345]

The finale of the second symphony is one of the most beautiful and breathtaking passages from any piece of music I've ever heard

[@henricodeklerk3168]

I was frozen with goosebumps when I first heard it...

[@martijnspruit]

Although quite difficult (because you've been silent for over an hour), it is also beautiful to sing in the choir.

[@WolfgangXP65-67]

What about the opening to the 5th movement? It starts you up RIGHT after the quiet 4th movement. Not only is it terrifyingly loud, but it's also a very LOOOONG intro. The low strings make a VAST run for it before everything goes downhill, or in this case, RIGHT UP to probably one of the loudest, strongest, most terrifying, and most gorgeous passages ever. The brass play an angry angry fanfare signifying the apocalypse, letting us know that he'll will be upon our lives. The runs on higher instruments go crazy and right after it dies down, the horn plays a stunning and shocking fanfare in the key of Ab. MY LORD is the whole passage gorgeous.

[@henryalexander7325]

I'm gonna be singing it in a couple hours for opening night with the Oregon symphony!!!

[@TC.....]

dont forget the 8th finale, or even the 3rd finale

[@Wosudhehqaxb9169]

The moment @ 14:23 was like literally being gracefully lifted into space to see its ever-wonderous expansion

[@kubyco]

I like that Mahler wrote the Urlicht for alto, not soprano.

[@paulbadertscher]

It helps, too, to have a voice like Anna Larsson's... those octaves...wow....

[@kubyco]

Yes, what a singer she is.

[@shumandaniele]

Amen

[@conforzo]

It makes it deeper, both musically and narratively.

[@davidstedeford387]

Mahler famously said that he was an outsider in Austria because he came from Bohemia, that he was an outsider in Germany because he was Austrian and that he was an outsider in the whole world because he was a Jew. And yet, and yet...truly he lives on for the whole world because of his wonderful, astonishing, life-giving music, of which there is enough for a lifetime of discovery.

[@N.I.R.A.T.I.A.S.]

"Most beautiful passages of each Mahler symphony" should just be the entirety of the Resurrection.

[@balthazarnaylor5874]

More like the entirety of the symphonies 1-9

[@paulvarn4712]

I was introduced to Mahler as a teenager by a friend. Soon afterward I attended one of the premieres of his 10th by the Seattle Symphony. Why turn of the century romanticism speaks so strongly to me is the constant switching between brooding tragedy and glorious harmony always toying with my mind with out of this world dissonance. These ideas express my own life so closely. Like Bach, Mahler was constantly being compared to other great composers but as the highest paid conductor in the world is loved much more after his time. To me this is evidence his music was not only written for his time, but for our time and far into the future. He taught the great composers of our time how to write haunting and complex melodies with modern dissonance and wrote for the whole orchestra not shying away from innovation.

[@zigpig100]

the adagio of Mahler's sixth symphony is some of the most heart-braking and soul searching music ever written : a real gem !

[@ianfrancis777]

I think I've deprived myself of Mahler far too long. I do thank you for your inspiration.

[@ONeirda]

Mahler wrote some of the very most beautiful music in history, according to my taste. I adore and venerate Mahler. Thanks to your analysis I got a glimpse into how this out-of-the-worldish wonder happens. Pure genius. Thank you so much.

[@Richard.Atkinson]

It's life-changing music!

[@porridgeandprunes]

Its comforting to know that other people get the same intense enjoyment out of this music that I do. Those particular musical passages that you describe have the same effect on me.

[@Συναισθησις]

How about "The most viciously comical passages of each Mahler symphony"?

[@johntate6537]

Thank you for this beautiful selection. I'm not sure that I could make a selection like that myself, as I love too much throughout Mahler's symphonies. I agree for example with how the Urlicht from the 2nd contains extraordinary passages, but the ending of the finale also makes my hair stand on end. Just a shame you didn't include Das Lied von der Erde - Mahler's unacknowledged symphony, or the 10th. I know the latter is controversial, but there is too much original Mahler material in it to leave out, and the tantalising glimpse it gives us of his intended musical direction is just too enticing for me to ignore. Though once again, with both of them there is an embarrassment of riches of beautiful passages.

[@AlexiHelligar]

Great examples! Thank you! It would be nice to know what you would choose from the "Song of the Earth" and the unfinished Symphony No. 10.

[@osamakarkout]

How about the 10th? Even though it wasn't completed by him, it's too brilliant to be left unmentioned I think.

[@dpbmss]

He was nearly 75% or more there. 1st and 3rd complete with 2nd, 4th and 5th full of notes. The entire melodic lines are there and Dyrek Cooke's version is as close as we're likely to get to one of Mahler's greatest works. There's so much beauty in the 10th that it has now gained a rightful place in the repertoire including a solo piano version.

[@davidwright8432]

Very many thanks, Richard! I read music the way a halting 8-yr old reads text. I can follow a single - double, on a good day - line. Your calling out the sections instrument by instrument, by theme, is extremely helpful. At least my eyes and your colors agree as to where I am, so it's working! Next stop - Bruckner?!

[@Richard.Atkinson]

Stay tuned. I've been working on-and-off on an extended video analysis of the monumental fugal finale of his 5th for many months. In the meantime, I do have a short video on his 7th: kzbin.info/www/bejne/sICZo4eKaqmlZ9E

[@Virtuoso80]

The one most worth mentioning I disagree with is the 5th symphony. There's a sequence in the middle of the 3rd movement after the pizz. strings that's probably my favorite Mahler moment.

[@auser7823]

I know exactly what you're talking about! That is also my favorite part of the symphony! This is what you mean with the Clarinets, right? kzbin.info/www/bejne/i5vQpZuDedWsmdE Starting from @42:26 and the actual part starting @43:30? PS: the horns there are phenomenal as well.

[@mason3845]

Henry O I think the few bars before that with the horn solo is the most beautiful part but the pizz strings really are the best way to continue the beauty created from the end of the horn solo

[@hirondellescie356]

Very well done! I especially appreciate that you show not only great moments, but how they grow from their contexts. Greetings from Lucerne.

[@saanic3117]

when i heared Mahler for my first time...i started to love my life! How ever your life sucks...you only need to to hear Mahlers 3rd...

[@DHWOO]

Not including Mahler 10? That flute solo in the final movement...

[@johntate6537]

Speaking as a flutist...!!!!!!

[@jacobbass6226]

John Tate only the first movement could be said to be true Mahler. The rest was decent orchestration of his shambles of sketches.

[@dfkfgjfg]

@@jacobbass6226 First movement was fully his, second was 90% his, third was about 50/50 because you could extrapolate many orchestration choices from the first 20 bars he did himself and his sketches, fourth and fifth are up for debate but Cooke knew Mahler very very well and his sketches are actually surprisingly detailed to the point that the last 2 movements might as well be considered his but "Re-orchestrated" slightly

[@DHWOO]

@@dfkfgjfg Upsets me how many dismiss most of the tenth. I have the Cooke score and it includes Mahler's short score on smaller staves at the bottom so you can clearly see what's been done. The sketches/short score (whatever you want to call it) is in fact remarkably detailed, certainly no shambles, often with prompts for orchestration. The flute solo I mention is indeed marked 'fl.' and the chords beneath... well they could only be lush strings! And even if we found out that the whole thing was actually written by Cooke's grandmother, it would still be an awesome work.

[@dfkfgjfg]

@@DHWOO I also own the score and greatly enjoy watching how Cooke dealt with the short score and constantly find myself impressed. There's only that one developmental section that is lost blank for several bars but the rest is so highly detailed. I agree Cooke did a fine job regardless of what the 10th may have originally looked like. The same people who boycott it think the Requiem is Mozart's when Mozart wrote less of it than Mahler wrote his 10th

[@HeelPower200]

I wonder if you can do such videos for Bruckner as well..Though I understand its a lot of hardwork.Thanks for this beautiful video.

[@Richard.Atkinson]

Soon I will do an analysis of the immense fugal finale of Bruckner's 5th. That will take a long time though. In the meantime, I do have a shorter video about a passage from the 7th Symphony: kzbin.info/www/bejne/sICZo4eKaqmlZ9E

[@WoutDC]

I easily forget it, thinking about Brahms and Bruckner, but man, Mahler was at least equally as great at writing for the horn...

[@nncortes]

Wonderful video. Do you do any analyses of Sibelius symphonies? Different from Mahler, but wonderful as well.

[@Richard.Atkinson]

I haven't yet, but possibly in the future! I do have one video about Carl Nielsen's 5th if you are looking for something else Scandinavian.

[@FranciscoBricio]

Wow! Agree with you on ALL of them. Please keep doing this!

[@ldohlj1]

It's not possible to mention all of the beautiful parts of Mahler's works without mentioning all of it. Every part of every symphony is totally connected with other parts.

[@joshazenbergpercussion]

These were all fantastic choices although I personally think the end of movement 1 of the 9th is the most beautiful moment in that symphony. :P

[@Richard.Atkinson]

Yes, those horns and the clarinet solo at the end are one of my favorite moments in any Mahler symphony. That exact moment was my runner-up for the 9th Symphony.

[@meaganjohnson2740]

I'm playing Mahler 4 with my orchestra at the moment and when you said "third movement" I was like absolutely my dude.

[@paulbadertscher]

This is tremendous, thank you. Not only are your choices excellent, but you get into the why and the how. Very instructive for someone like me with only a little formal training, but a growing appreciation of this music.

[@JIROYOSHIOKA]

Just a personal note of my favorite parts 13:58 Symphony 4 16:40 Symphony 5 27:57 Symphony 8

[@XQQ-qm8ow]

I really enjoyed the video but can't help but feel slightly upset that neither "Das lied von erde" (which Mahler in private considered to be his 9th symphony) and Symphony No. 10 have both been left out. Especially Symphony No. 10, because even though only a single movement was truly completed by Mahler, that being the Adagio, I consider it to be one of Mahler's greatest pieces. The apocalyptic climax from bars 194-212 may not be fit the common description for what is "beautiful", but this climactic passage is one booming with soul-crushing, horrifying and yet immensely sublime melodies that make one feel as if the universe is about to collapse on them. And the beautiful, calming yet dissonant ending to the movement may fit the common description of beauty more effectively and definitely deserves a spot on the last. No matter what, your video was wonderful and I enjoyed it dearly.

[@debradebello3732]

Absolutely have to agree with Sym. 4. I still get gooseflesh every time I hear that section.

[@Richard.Atkinson]

Yes, it's possibly the most beautiful moment in any music...

[@debradebello3732]

Agreed! Richard, I sure wish I had had you as my professor in university; I would have gotten an A! :) Can't tell you how much I enjoyed your Mozart 41, 4th mvt. analysis - brought tears to my eyes. Even though I studied that movement in college and realized how special it is, your passion for the music and the color coding you added just brought to my eyes what I had largely experienced in my ears until then. Something about SEEING the thematic material change and combine throughout the duration of the movement was nothing short of wonderful, and lent more to my realization of the genius underlying it all. Thank you so much, and I hope to see even more in the future!

[@Michel-eg9eh]

You're absolutely right in pointing out the similitude between that ethereal, hallucinatory passage in the first mvt of Mahler's 7th and the 3rd act of Götterdämmerung. I wouldn't have thought of that, not being enough of a wagnerian. But it should be mentioned that Mahler did conduct lots of operas, including Verdi's, if I'm not mistaken.

[@uxnosidda]

best part of symph 4 will always be the last movement for me

[@Balfour.]

Great job and technical analysis. Personally, I fell in love with Mahler's music through the dark and chaotic side of it. Maybe that's the reason why the 6th's Finale it's my favourite piece of music ever written. Anyways, I hope you consider doing a second part called 'The most colossal passages of each Mahler Symphony'. It'd be great :)

[@Richard.Atkinson]

Thank you! That is already on my list of videos to make! Until I do, you might be interested in my list of Mahler symphony movements from greatest to least-great. The finale of the 6th is also first place on my list! richardatkinsononmusic.blogspot.com/2013/02/mahler-symphony-movements-from-greatest.html

[@offyougonow1007]

There are so many majestic passages in Mahler's music! -And aside from his glorious adagio movements, he composed the most gorgeous finales I've ever heard, bar none! Is it any wonder that Mahler concerts are still sold out, and that there's SRO (Standing Room Only) at those with a decent orchestra, conductor, and chorus (provided the symphony being performed calls for a chorus).

[@dmitrishostakovich2822]

maybe not "the most colossal" - that's could become too superficial ... maybe "the most breathtaking"

[@kevinwingfield2007]

Thank you for all this. I have to be careful of my own emotional stability when exposed to such powerful music as this. The 6th passage you deal with is so tragic and hurt, it has all the pain of humanity in it. I can't take it unprepared these days. Bruno Walter wouldn't conduct the sixth, he felt it too suffused with despair, if I have it right. Also the Chorale early in the 4th Movement of the Ninth, that has to be a contender, don't you think. Thanks so much for giving us this analysis. Mahler had the measure of the 20th century all right.

[@oleflogger6828]

I first heard his 1st Symphony in the late 50s on a "free" record my Mom got for grocery shopping at the Grand Union Supermarket in Farmingdale, NY. I was captivated immediately. I didn't hear his 2nd or 3rd symphonies until decades later, in the late 80s in Berkeley, CA at Tower Records. "Hey, what's that playing? I hear it a lot these days." "Sir, that's Mahler's 2nd Symphony". Ahhhhhhh, I should have known. Now, I have multiple copies of ALL of his symphonies, and, Wesendonck Lieder (Ann Evans' at the 1994 Proms).

[@simontoussaint7555]

What makes the modulation to D in the excerpt from the 4th symphony so special is the sudden addition of the low D in the double basses, this adds a whole new dimension of depth to the sound that makes the high ostinato even more amazing. Great video!

[@Jan96106]

Yes, I agree, but also the first part of the sixth movement of Symphony 3. In fact, the whole sixth movement.

[@fjjt5897]

I agree with most of all except for the 9th. I mean, that excerpt is beautiful, but from the last cello solo until the magical end of the symphony is breathtaking, specially the Abbado in the Lucerne Festival with those 2 minutes of silence at the end. Anyway, congratulations! I think that you must have listened to the whole Mahler cycle, which is hard, and read the scores, which is harder!

[@austinbenesh1193]

Wow, I got my degree in music and really miss listening to Mahler. Think I will do some later.

[@Andrew-vh1ws]

That horn solo at the very end of the 9th symphony is one that would drive me absolutely nuts in the bars leading up to it. Totally exposed, high risk/low reward and just making that perfect octave leap at the end of a very long and taxing evening of playing. So good when it's perfect like in this recording.

[@Jay-S04]

Dude I’ve binging through your vids like fries. Keep doing what you’re doing👍

[@fergusbyett8088]

Time to go listen to some Mahler

[@leestamm3187]

I've been listening to Mahler for over 50 years. It's hard to please everyone but your choices are as good as any. Nice, concise analysis with the color coding in the scores. Well done.

[@TheStoneblogs]

Mahler was the best. ever.

[@nateofnathan8297]

If I had made this list I couldn’t have picked a favorite section. I would just play the whole 9 symphonies and say those are the best sections but amazing job

[@conforzo]

During the 4th those modulations are they Ger6 chords? (E to C for example)

[@jordanmcintyre5148]

This is a great analysis, but "most beautiful" is highly subjective, especially when we're talking about Mahler imo

[@Dylonely42]

Indeed

[@beni37391]

You seem to have a similar taste to me - I'd have picked pretty much the same except for may be the fifth. What I do miss however is the 10th symphony. The last movement of the cooke version really has sublime moments like in the other symphonies. But since it wasn't completed by Mahler himself, it often gets discarded - undeservedly so imo

[@fantastiskchow8830]

Oh! For me the most beautiful passage from Symphony No.1 is Third Movement measure 83 onwards!

[@misterb5073]

What a wonderful job Richard- one of the most enjoyable videos I have ever seen on You Tube..I'm a Mahler lover so this really moved me and educated me. Thank you.

[@marije179]

I think this is the appropriate place to say that I'm such a big Mahler fangirl lol. If I could only listen to 5 pieces for the rest of my life, there would be 2 symphonies of him on the list. ... And I only really know the 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th lol. Gotta keep place for Bruckner

[@carryfreak5059]

You need to experience the sheer power of #8, and be moved to tears by the final movement of #9.

[@offyougonow1007]

Richard, tell us about yourself! Don't be modest. . . Where do you teach? Do you realize how many people you're provided a new and/ or expanded perspective for, on the music (and genius) for Gustav Mahler? Thank you!

[@Richard.Atkinson]

Music is obviously a passion of mine, but it isn't my profession. I compose and make these videos in my free time, but I work as a forensic pathologist.

[@TyronTention]

You and I are very similar in that regard. We both study music in our free time and are involved in forensics.

[@Richard.Atkinson]

Wow! What do you do?

[@classicalmusiclover4029]

Richard Atkinson Why don’t you do music as your profession?

[@Alexagrigorieff]

@@Richard.Atkinson In Alexander Pushkin's play Mozart and Salieri, Salieri says in the first monologue: "I disected music like a cadaver".

[@michaelkeyton639]

Fantastic. You are illustrating so well two of the superb characteristics of Mahler. First, so rarely does he repeat a section the same, there always seems a change in timbre or combinations with other passages. For me, this is the main aspect that makes his music so enjoyable to study and listen to repeatedly. The second is his ability to combine so many different parts together. Many of the greatest musicians can get 3 or 4 different themes combined, but Mahler seems unbounded. Is 6 the most at any one moment? Superb use of combining the visual with the music. I look forward to more presentations.

[@peterwinkler4724]

Richard, we listened to your “Mahler’s most beautiful passages” KZbin post this evening to celebrate Mahler’s birthday (July 7). What a treat! Deede and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

[@nowitskevin3951]

I totally agree with all of these except for the 2nd symphony! In the first movement about 3 minutes in, there's an amazing, heavenly melody please by the strings in B major. It gives me goosebumps every time. Then about 11 minutes in, he brings back the charming melody in C major! It's perfect! Fantastic!

[@Richard.Atkinson]

Yes, I love that rising theme. It actually comes back a third time near the end of the movement, and this third time is the most transfigured (it was one of the runners-up to be included in this video, along with a few moments from the 5th mvt.).

[@JamieSmith-fz2mz]

Such as...? What passages from the 5th mvt? I sat patiently in the choir for 75 minutes waiting on hard wooden bleachers for the DSO to hit the coolest musical experience of my life. Even if your favorite passages aren't a choir section, spill them anyway. Mine: the soprano solo (at 41): O glaube... Du warst nicht umsonst geboren..., and the choir (at 46): Mit flugeln die ich mir errungen... BTW, Orchestra Hall in Detroit needs to put padding on their bleachers.

[@neilmurphy7554]

@@Richard.Atkinson Its third, transfigured return is beyond beauty..... listen to Tenndstedt cond. who submerges you in it.....

[@EminAnimE1]

I approve this message.

[@philslife1]

What happened to my favorite symphony, the 10th? So many gorgeous passages found there....

[@GuillaumeB7]

The Rudolf Barshai recording is so amazing.

[@dacoconutnut9503]

Hello, Richard! It seems that you like Mahler a lot, so I'd like to make a request: could you please analyse the Part One of the 3rd Symphony, focusing on the 'Marsch'? I find it hilarious (and it later gives way to the recapitulation). It's very based on a dense motivic imitation (like the 1st subject, I guess, the cellos and contrabasses play them at first, soon it spreads all over the strings). There might not be that much of counterpoint that you analyse in most of your videos (I'm sorry, I don't know anything about counterpoint), but I think it would be helpful (at least for me) to have an analysis (and it would a massive honor to have yours, I appreciate your videos a lot) and to hear all the details in that special part. If you're reading this, thank you!!!! (Sorry for the bad English)

[@markryan8572]

Where can you get the app which follows the score and plays it the same time for free.

[@raffaellopilato3132]

You have inserted sublime moments. In Mahler's music, sublimity and banality (volute) coexist. These two aspects are met happily in Mahler. I love ALL MAHLER

[@JoelBenson-to1yb]

Why did Toscanini hate Mahler so much, saying his music deserved to be written on toilet paper?

[@WolfgangXP65-67]

Did he actually say that? If for real then it's on sight >:(.

[@64amhs]

Very impressive! my personal favorite is the passage from the Fourth Symphony. It hits me emotionally more strongly than the others. I notice you did not do the Tenth Symphony. I have been comparing the many orchestrations completing the sketch Mahler left us. I find the second Remo Mazzetti version the most convincing. The Rudolf Barshai is too thickly scored in an un-Mahlerian way. The Wheeler is probably the purest. Of course nobody can ever know how Mahler would have completed the orchestration and what changes he would have made. Thanks for all your hard work.

[@Quotenwagnerianer]

Choosing a passage from the tenth as most beautiful is easy. It's of course the flute solo at the begining of the finale.

[@Richard.Atkinson]

I was listening to the 4th a few days ago, and I wished I had included the passage immediately preceding the one I included in this video (it ends with a plagal cadence). The whole movement is so gorgeous that it makes choosing a single passage difficult.

[@Dan474834]

Quotenwagnerianer - The greatest passage from the tenth is when the horns come in during the main theme of the finale, not the flute solo.

[@fiogray]

@@Quotenwagnerianer, completely agree with you, that flute solo is my choice as well.

[@MJ-ux7mx]

Very nice job. Hallo from Poland

[@Fritz_Maisenbacher]

Thank you , Mr. Atkinson , thank you ..... your work is pure devotion ...... for the most precious flowers blossoming in the most precious garden ..... you are a lover , Mr. Atkinson ..... a lover ...... and this is so important . God bless you .

[@cmillerg6306]

I used to have a set of the Groves Encyclopedia, circa 1950's. It was interesting to read the entry for Mahler and how, at that time, there was no consensus as to the strong value of his works. We are so lucky to have relatively easy access to so much music. I hope that Mahler is again discovered by future generations. The existence of so many U.S. symphony orchestras depends upon it.

[@jeclipse129]

Resurrection’s (2nd Symphony) finale made this non-religious man weep and believe in something.

[@robertkoepper8825]

Showing the genius behind Mahler's magnificent works. Thank you.

[@SaccidanandaSadasiva]

If I was in a deserted island I would take the complete works of J.S.Bach, A.Webern and Trout Mask Replica by Captain Beefheart. I need nothing else than the divine music of bach, the minimalism of webern and the craziness of captain beefheart. You?

[@glenkaiser633]

For lyrical beauty I would vote for the original 2nd movement "Blumine"...all of it.

[@kkr203]

YES you nailed my favorite moment of Mahler 2. The soloist in the City of Birmingham Orchestra video on KZbin with Simon Rattle does it THE BEST

[@gswilmore6755]

It took many hearings of Mahler 1 to grasp that that expanded romance in the last movement is only briefly hinted at in the opening of the 1rst movement as a little seed in winds. Realizing this made that Mahler 1 last movement romance all the more impressive.

[@tetyanachorna8139]

❤️thanks a lot!

[@mtv565]

@2:05 - Agree, listen to Elgar's variation 12 from Enigma Variations. The cello section plays the theme in one of the middle section that variation.

[@scotgat]

A popular song of the 1940's taken (consciously or not) from Mahler's Third Symphony was "I'll Be Seeing You (In All The Familiar Places)", popularized by Billie Holiday and Jo Stafford. Even the title of the song has a "Mahlerian" ring to it.

[@DrDTsoukas]

well i dont agree with most of the selections but in any case this is a wonderful job you ve done here and I would like to thank you very much for it! its very inspiring!!

[@mikezinn7212]

Why don't you do a comparative video to supplement this. It would be really interesting.

[@stuartparsons4948]

Whilst I agree with you almost measure for measure on what are the most beautiful parts of each symphony [with the possible exception of the 2nd Symphony, where I would probably have selected one of the stormier passages from that thrilling 4th movement!], I can't believe you haven't included the 10th Symphony here! Ok, so I know it wasn't entirely finished at Mahler's death, but a lot of it was, at least in sketch form - and, to me at least, the completions by Cooke or Barshai, etc (to name two of the more popular attempts), sound like authentic Mahler, and are very tastefully done (to the extent that Alma Mahler lifted her sanction on the 10th's being performed). I suppose one could go down Bernstein's (and other's) route and consider nothing but the first movement worthy of consideration (or performance), but I feel this is cutting off the nose to spite the face....We lose out on so much beauty that way! What is extant contains (IMHO) more than enough of a scaffold to allow the most successful completions to be so rewarding to Mahler fans - and in my opinion the 10th is perhaps his greatest symphony of all (I feel it certainly would have been had a definite completion been made by Mahler). There are numerous passages throughout its extent that could be selected as the most beautiful; but in my opinion, the best passage starts about almost exactly half way through the final movement, where suddenly that bloodcurdling dissonant scream first presented in the first movement is brought back, followed by a recapitulation of the earie string music first heard in the symphony's opening bars - but now taken up by the horns (which, although apparently in F# major, sounds almost atonal in places to my ears - much in keeping with some of the music of the 9th Symphony), after which the music somehow works it's way back into a more unequivocally sounding F# major, finally depicting calm resignation before seemingly ending in a brief, glorious flash of emancipation into the light.....(Sorry, that's not exactly choosing 10 or so measures - rather, it's the entire second half of the final movement - but it's so difficult to narrow it down from this 😊) Of course, the full beauty here is only most evident in the context of having listened to the symphony in its entirety, as would be the case with most symphonies by any composer. Anyway - just hoping you might consider some sort of analysis of the 10th (in whatever completion you may prefer) in a future video, as I'm a big fan of your work.

[@14jemima]

20:07 How frustrating! You stopped right before the most gorgeous chord! I cry whenever I hear it.

[@Richard.Atkinson]

Yes, I love that one too...

[@Alexagrigorieff]

And 31:07, where harps and clarinets toll in unison, with such comforting phrase, which is soon followed by somewhat harrowing tune in oboe.

[@conradthe2]

Disagree as of slight with the Resurrection Symphony; personally the Choral entrance, especially considering the cataclysm of the previous half of the movement, just gives me goosebumps every time; however, the Urlicht is wonderful too.

[@Richard.Atkinson]

Yes, for me there are many moments in the 1st and 5th movements (including the one you mentioned) that are close competitors to the one I chose.

[@conradthe2]

Bottom line, Mahler is wonderful.

[@schonkable]

Just the key of G-flat major is what makes it so beautiful to me!

[@kevinwingfield2007]

Despite not sharing Mahler's religiosity, the stressed longing distilled into the Urlicht is so affecting and beautiful. When I played the Klemperer CD at home some years ago, my dear departed wife, then falling into dementia, would say "It always makes me cry".

[@Molybdaenmornell]

As a German, and despite not believeing in God, I well up towards the end of the Resurrection Symphony. It starts when the soloist sings "O glaube, du wardst nicht umsonst geboren" ("Oh believe, you were not born in vain"). Those few words are a very powerful answer to a very deep need. The passages "Sterben werd' ich um zu leben" (the second instance, beginning on the fourth note) and "zu Gott, zu Gott wird es dich tragen" have modulations that seem to break heavy chains. And the "song of the nightingale" as a final Earthly sound just before the entrance of the chorale is ethereal.

[@weinerherzog5925]

For every dolt who gets butt hurt when you proclaim that mainstream rap and country music is craftless, show them this video.

[@Caitriona221]

Wow!

[@csfarnsworth14]

There are two passages in the finale of the 6th that I find incredibly beautiful: the first is the transition and the first couple of measures into figure 132; the second is the is the 16 measure chorale at figure 161, with Mahler giving such beautiful and lucious chorda through our the lower strings and brass. Loved the video, especially the passages that you showed from the 3rd and the 9th symphonies!

[@stpd1957]

I enjoyed that Richard, excellent work, well done.

[@apolloskyfacer5842]

Now you've done it. I now have to got back and get my CDs out and listen once again to his symphonies. Thank you. It's actually much appreciated.

[@DavidHassell2004]

Nothing can beat the 3rd symphony final for me. Ive said that my funeral will comprise of just that and nothing else but hopefully that's a long time off lol. Great work Richard although for me, despite a few histrionics. Bernstein always reaches the parts even the wonderful Abbado can't reach. Personal op. I know.

[@millerlou7294]

Bernstein is like Mahler reborn.

[@arlenehathaway3076]

for me, the last 15 minutes of the 2nd will be played at my funeral - this changed my life forever when i first heard it and it still is the most emotional piece of music i have ever heard....

[@briangalvan9967]

Mahler 3 finale is my favorite piece of music ever written. Happy to see others love it too. CSO and Solti!!! 😀

[@rayancharafeddine4982]

In work I listen to the fifth in order, Gergiev, Abaddo, etc. Etc. Bernstein is on another level in my humble opinion

[@ricasa2005]

I feel you. Mahler 3rd is to me the greatest piece of music ever composed

[@alanmundy127]

Interesting and informative - rather than those silly 'best bits' compilations. Why did you not include anything from the two completed movements of No 10 ?

[@RodolfoLimacbx]

*4:44** • YES! YES! YES!* it always gives me goosebumps! And also _Anna Larsson_ and _Abbado_ together .. *uow!*

[@goodmanmusica]

Great but where is the Adagio of Symphony no.10?

[@asdf7219]

Mahler 3's movement 1 has really beautiful moments as well.

[@opticalmixing23]

9:48 i understand now

[@CharlesAustin]

Master orchestrater .. magically musical .. brass chorales.. Thanks for this ..

[@christinebutler9754]

I enjoy your work could you please do Shatichovich11and10 symphonies for me thank you in advance

[@raymonddooley2623]

I personally prefer the first five minutes of the adagio of fourth symphony. The plucking in this piece haunts me. It is disturbing and has a haunting beauty. What do you think Richard? Magnificent job you are doing.

[@Richard.Atkinson]

I certainly also adore the beginning of the 4th's adagio. I said in the video that it was difficult to choose a single passage from that movement, since it's incredible throughout.

[@marcolucca6241]

1:32 first violins Rigoletto Verdi

[@xavieryuste8894]

Great fantastic!!! many thanks for this video I agree with you, very good selection

[@jdiwkall]

No most beautiful passage from the 10th? I really love the 10th so much...it's such a great work

[@authenticbaguette6673]

most beautiful passage of the 5th symphony ? the *entire* adagietto ! it's just pure beauty from start to finish !

[@Senzenfrenz]

Well this is remarkably great researching for great moments in music, like searching for those peak experiences you only get few in life (if any). This image of heaven "Himmel" in "urlicht" is one of the greatest musical experiences I've ever had too, listening to this sensitive voice climbing up the octave on heaven (Himmel) first time and then again climbing the stairway to heaven literally when followed by the scale upwards. And as you think it couldn't get any better then follows the absolute peak when the oboe solo follows representing such longing within that suspension on melodic climax. You don't want to come down the stairs again afterwards. It is perfect.

[@Richard-b5r9v]

At 13:12 the Heavens open up!!!!

[@joshyam4026]

Joy of reading the scores and of appreciating their embodiments by orchestra.

[@massimopaderni855]

The most gorgeuous and visionary of his symphonies, the tenth, the one I prefer, does not appear. Why?

[@GeorgePiazza]

Beautiful choices and excellent analysis. The 3rd being a personal favorite, I would have a hard time citing a given passage as 'most beautiful' (My personal favorite Movements are the 2nd & 4th); but that makes Mahler's work so wonderful - each Movement of each Symphony is profound journey, propelled by daring composition and impeccable orchestration.