Mahler Symphony No. 2 - 3rd Movement - Listening Guide

With a gently flowing movement. The tragic, or at least pessimistic, the conception of this symphonic Scherzo seems worlds away from the humour of the Wunderhorn song in which St. Anthony preaches to the fishes, who understand nothing of his sermon and look on with a glazed expression. Yet they are sister works that use identical musical material.Two timpani strokes, dominant-tonic, unleash the Scherzo’s “senseless agitation”, an uninterrupted and intentionally monotonous double ostinato in t...