The ninth heaven

The San Francisco Symphony's performance os Mahler's
gloriously tragic Ninth was easily the best performance
I've ever heard of this work, one of my favorites. It was
a reading to remember for a lifetime -- besting even
Bernstein's performance of this work I heard as a teenager.
Best of all, these performances are being recorded as
part of the SF Symphony's Mahler Cycle.

Thursday night, the quiet ending ending to the first
movement was magical, with 3000 people sitting at
Davies Hall in stunned silence -- no coughers!

James Keller's program notes warns us not to indulge in
excessive sentimentality in our approach to this work, but
I don't care: I want the 4th movement's Adagio played at
my funeral.