Mahler

Mahler's ten symphonies (the last unfinished) are among the most ambitious works in the orchestral repertoire, requiring enormous forces and lasting up to 90 minutes. They encompass the full range of human experience — from folk-like simplicity to cosmic grandeur, from bitter irony to transcendent beauty. His song cycles, particularly Das Lied von der Erde, are equally profound. Mahler was also one of the greatest conductors of his age, serving as director of the Vienna Court Opera and later the New York Philharmonic. His own music was divisive during his lifetime — he famously told Sibelius that the symphony must be like the world: it must embrace everything. His prediction that his time would come proved correct: since the 1960s, his symphonies have become central to the orchestral repertoire.