# Mahler's 9th Vs Bruckner's 9th



## BenG (Aug 28, 2018)

I love both these symphonies very much and they both mean a lot to me. I have heard some similarities between both Mahler's and Bruckner's 9th. For example, the upward string melody at the beginning of both of the adagios. If I were to choose my movement from both the symphonies I would choose this.
First Movemnt: Bruckner (because of that incredible coda) 
Scherzo (and rondo burlesque): Mahler because if the genius counterpoint
Adagio: The hardest choice of them all. Mahler has the heart-wrenching saddness but Bruckner has the sublimness and mystical nature. I might have to give this a tie. What do you think. Mahler or Bruckner? 

Ps: I love the incomplete finale of the Bruckner but it's not similar enough to the other movements in the mahler to compare.


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## Triplets (Sep 4, 2014)

I like the idea of a "tie" in the two adagios. Both are amongst the finest pieces of music ever written. I wouldn't want to choose between the two first movements, they are equally great in their own way. I do love the Elephants Dancing of the Bruckner scherzo, though


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

If I absolutely had to live with only one of these symphonies, I would choose the Mahler. I'm glad I do not have to make such a choice.

The choice I do have to make nowadays is which version of each symphony I want to hear, since I have at least a dozen copies of each in my current collection. Two great symphonies. (Too bad the Bruckner is incomplete. Still, incomplete Bruckner is still better than complete almost anybody else.)


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

The Mahler is a breathtaking experience from start to finish (and what a finish it is), definitely in my top 10 symphonies.

However, Bruckner (in the three movement version only, please) is my #1 symphony. It's perfect, including the way it ends after movement 3.


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

I love both. As far as a favourite goes - it depends what day it is.


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

The Mahler 9th is of course richly rewarding, and my favorite recording is with Bruno Walter and the CSO. Walter knew Mahler personally... So is the Bruckner 9th and I would never want to choose between them... I believe Bruckner devotees sincerely owe it to themselves to hear Simon Rattle's performance of the completed Ninth Symphony with an open mind... Bruckner didn't work on his fourth movement for nothing and this is a far greater completion than the Mozart Requiem... Great performance by Rattle and the BPO, which I've never heard sound better, and listeners can decide for themselves regarding the emotional power and authenticity of the finale... But I found it highly convincing and richly rewarding. Simon Rattle's introduction...


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## Triplets (Sep 4, 2014)

Larkenfield said:


> The Mahler 9th is of course richly rewarding and my favorite recording is with Bruno Walter and the CSO. Walter knew Mahler personally... So is the Bruckner 9th and I would never want to choose between them... I believe Bruckner devotees sincerely owe it to themselves to hear Simon Rattle's performance of the completed Ninth Symphony with an open mind... Bruckner didn't work on his fourth movement for nothing and this is the far greater completion than the Mozart Requiem... Great performance by Rattle and the BPO, which I've never heard sound better, and listeners can decide for themselves regarding the emotional power and authenticity of the finale... But I found it highly convincing and richly rewarding. Simon Rattle's introduction...


Walter was Mahler's assistant and gave the premiere of the 9th.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

I tricky choice but it is hard not to go for the Mahler. Three times I chose the Mahler in my mind but then I thought "Bruckner 9 is quite special" and I couldn't decide. This time I go in with the choice before my doubts crept back in!


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## Kollwitz (Jun 10, 2018)

A very tough choice. Instinctive slight preference for the Bruckner, but perhaps just because I've been listening to, and loving, so much Bruckner over the last few months. After seeing this thread this morning I listened to Mahler 9 (Haitink's first recording) on the way to and from work as a refresher. Reminded me of how incredible it is, especially the rondo-burlesque and adagio. Happy memories of seeing it performed by Haitink and the LSO last year. The intertwining of light and shade in the symphony is mesmerising, with that bittersweet feeling flitting between irony and more straightforward emotion. There's a real sense of the artist and psychological turbulence at heart of modernism. The ending is beautiful. I think it's genuinely helped me come to terms with my own mortality. 

I'd agree with Larkenfield's view that the completion of Bruckner 9 deserves an audience. I saw it performed by the BPO and Rattle a few months ago and it was really compelling, though I wish the Festival Hall acoustic were better (I was right at the front of the balcony, in the centre, and wanted it to be louder when the orchestra were clearly at full tilt). The last movement puts the symphony in a different perspective and, from what I know of Bruckner, is a more fitting conclusion than the 'farewell to life'. It feels like an attempt to transcend his own life and is thus more in keeping with his life and work. Also seems to necessitate a slightly different appraoch to the preceding movements (perfect though Giulini and Furtwangler are in their way). Such a shame that the final few pages of the score appear to have been pilfered. I still listen to the 3 movement version more often, but the completed version now feels more authentic, somehow. I appreciate that some don't like it all, but if you've not explored it, it's worthwhile.

In sunmary, too hard to choose.


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

Simon Rattle's BPO performance of the Finale Misterioso of _Bruckner's 9th:_


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