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On looking Mahler up, I gather he wrote rather long symphonies.
My one and only text book says (sic) "It was suddenly realised that Mahler hadn't written big long boring symphonies of the Brahms type which you had to listen to carefully from beginning to end in order not to miss the themes, but had, in fact, simply strung together hundreds of attractive little tunes and it was possible to go into a coma for a lot of the symphony and still get involved when you came to again."
So I'll give him a listen. The article goes on to talk about the 7th being dubbed "the Mad" so I'm wondering if that's the best or worst place to start. I have a few eurostar journeys coming up so anything good to pass the time....
If he's anything like Berg, I should like his work.
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Start with the 1st Symphony. It's definitely the best introduction to his works. Then, I would suggest listening to the 2nd symphony, which is a good deal longer, but an incredibly powerful piece. If you enjoy this, then you will probably enjoy the rest of the symphonies as well. Some will probably take several listens before they sink in, but this is the case with most works of their length. The 9th will probably be your favorite, because it's the closest thing to Berg's music that he completed.
Don't forget the song cycles either.