Sinfonia n.5

Widely scoffed at in his own day, Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) remained firmly convinced of his own genius. During his lifetime, Mahler was acclaimed as a great conductor; performances of his symphonies, however, met with mixed receptions. Critics complained about harsh dissonances, excessive orchestration, and confusing shifts of mood. After his death, the support for his music was sporadic at best. Though giving him only qualified status as an important historical figure, Aaron Copland, in Our New Music (1941), sensed something extraordinarily touching about Mahler's work. Not until the 1960s, however, was the magnitude of Mahler's achievement definitely recognized. - J. Knighten Smit