First off, I am very bravely admitting the information that follows. Should anybody I know read this and take me for a sucker, dream on. There are only a few orchestral pieces that I have heard so far in my life that can bring me to tears if the interpretation is just right.

Samuel Barber leads the way with his infamous Adagio for Strings. The Funeral March movement from Beethoven's Third Symphony is in there as well. Rachmaninoff's second movement of the Second Piano Concerto gains honorable mention, and another one belongs to Gustav Mahler and the Adagietto from his Fifth Symphony (in C-sharp Minor)

It is probably the most performed and well known of all Mahler's Symphonies, it was written between 1901-02. It is a majestic piece of music that once saw legendary conductor Herbert von Karahan saying of the Symphony: “You forget that time has passed. A great performance of the Fifth is a transforming experience. The fantastic finale almost forces you to hold your breath.”

1901-02 were personally exceptional years for Mahler. He had come into possession of his own villa in South Austria, finally gotten married, and was expecting a child. In terms of his career, it couldn't have been higher. He was at the time the Director of the Vienna Court Opera and was the principal conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic, one of the world’s great orchestras at the time. It only seemed suiting that his music writing took a similar revelatory spike.

Mahler was much similar to Beethoven in that a retreat to the country, and a new outlook on life sparked a change in personality and perception of music. The only thing being it was about a century before for Beethoven and it was his Third Symphony, not his Fifth. Mahler was also said to have had a "middle period," and the Fifth Symphony is probably the best product of that stage. Mahler was in his twenties and thirties when he had composed the first four symphonies, the Fifth came about a decade later and is much deeper. The Fifth was of such new stature orchestrally that Mahler's own wife said her husband "was at the height of his powers”.

Mahler was a deep devotee of Bach (as are we all) and counterpoint was becoming an increasingly important factor in Mahler's works. His interest peaked in his composition of the Fifth Symphony and can be distinctly heard in the third and fifth movements.

While with most programs the key of the symphony is listed as C-sharp minor, Mahler himself often objected to the assignment of one key for the work. "From the order of the movements (where the usual first movement now comes second) it is difficult to speak of a key for the 'whole Symphony,' and to avoid misunderstandings the key should be omitted." Quite understandable when the only movement of the work actually in C-sharp minor is the opening movement, a distinct funeral march that suits the key. The other four movements: 2nd is in A minor, 3rd and 5th in D major, and the 4th is in F Major.

The work was said to have been designated by Mahler into three parts. The first two movements constituting Part I, the long scherzo of the third movement Part II alone and then the final two movements make up Part III.

Part III is shown below.

Fourth Movement, Adagietto (F Major)


The Adagietto is without a doubt the most famous movement from this work, and quite possibly Mahler's most famous single piece of music. It had been performed numerous times standing free from the rest of the symphony. Among noticeable trivia for this movement, it was performed at the mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York on June 8 1968, the day of the burial of Robert Kennedy.

The Adagietto was voted the 3rd "saddest classical" work ever in a 2004 Poll by listeners of BBC'sToday Program. Quite suiting to my confession above, Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings was voted the "saddest."

Fifth Movement, Rondo-Finale (D Major) Part 1


Fifth Movement, Rondo-Finale Part 2

hold your breath near the end, exhilarating!!

It is conducted by one of my all time favorites, Zubin Mehta with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra at the Teatro Municipal de Santiago de Chile. 2001.

A great analysis of this work is here