FINAL: Which symphony do you prefer?
Bruckner 4
Mahler 9
Bruckner 4
Holy shit the horn solos?? And like?? Brass????? The scherzo is so fucking good??? Please vote it????
The opening of this symphony is my favorite of all time. I can't explain the degree to which my heart explodes in my chest when I hear the opening lines. I love how Bruckner plays with inversions of the main theme in the final movement. This symphony feels like a love letter to triplets to me.
Mahler 9
The 4th movement is so emotionally charged and just so beautiful :)))
This symphony is really weird, it’s really hard to read from an emotional standpoint (yeah, it’s intense, but intensely *what*?)… at first I didn’t like it but after listening a lot it’s slowly become my second favorite Mahler symphony (after 2). First movement somehow makes a whole lot of music from what is essentially just a 2-note theme, the inner movements are these devilish little dances, and the last movement is just a beautiful farewell to the world and like the main theme is just a simple kind of turn ornament like the kind you’d hear in baroque music but he does so much with it it’s like *chef’s kiss* mmmm it’s so good
The first movement is my favorite, I LOVE all of the layering. The "heartbeat" rhythm is just haunting. The finale takes some getting used to, like slowly wading into hot water, but once you're there it's wonderful. It just takes a patient heart to crack her open.
It is the a beautiful tension between pain and hopefulness that suggests despite all the sadness Mahler experienced in his life, especially at this point, he still had some hope deep down