Baltimore Symphony Orchestra percussionist John Locke stands beside conductor Marin Alsop, who holds the giant hammer Gustav Mahler includes in his Sixth Symphony. Izabel Zambrzycki/Baltimore Symphony Orchestra hide caption
Gustav Mahler Gustav Mahler artist page: interviews, features and/or performances archived at NPR Music
Gustav Mahler
William Schimmel distills Mahler's lengthy Ninth Symphony down to under seven minutes. Illustration by Joan Chiverton hide caption
Members of the ensemble So Percussion join conductor Gustavo Dudamel for the U.S. premiere of David Lang's man made at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Doriane Raiman/for NPR Music hide caption
LA Philharmonic In Concert: Dudamel, Mahler And New Music
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John Bonham of Led Zeppelin at the Los Angeles-area Inglewood Forum in 1973. Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage hide caption
Gustav Mahler wanted each of his symphonies to contain a world of emotions and ideas. Library of Congress hide caption
Classical albums we loved this year. NPR/Denise DeBelius hide caption
Mahler's ironic funeral march, in his first symphony, was inspired by this woodcut of forest animals bearing the hunter to his grave. wikimedia commons hide caption
Composer Peter Lieberson wrote his Neruda Songs for his wife, mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson. Johansen Krause/Peter Lieberson hide caption
What happens when musicians slow the music way down? iStockphoto.com hide caption
Mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená collaborated with a conductor she knows well, the Berlin Philharmonic's Simon Rattle — who's also her husband. Mathias Bothor/DG hide caption
The English contralto Kathleen Ferrier had a voice like no other. She was born 100 years ago. Decca hide caption
Conductor Gustavo Dudamel leads the L.A. Philharmonic in a rehearsal of Mahler's Symphony No. 4, on tour last month in Caracas, Venezuela. Brian Lauritzen/KUSC hide caption
Simon Rattle conducts Mahler and Wolf at Carnegie Hall Saturday, February 25, 2012. Torsten Kjellstrand for NPR hide caption
Baritone Thomas Hampson has spent a substantial portion of his career singing the music of Gustav Mahler. Marco Borggreve hide caption
Fiction by the Ebene Quartet was one of our favorite albums this year. Virgin Classics hide caption
Dmitri Shostakovich topped our informal "who's the most badass composer" poll. Roger Rosing/Wikimedia/Deutshe Fotothek hide caption
Your weekly classical music news fix. Guillermo Perales/iStock hide caption
The 111-year-old Philadelphia Orchestra is facing crippling deficits. Ryan Donnell/Courtesy of the Philadelphia Orchestra hide caption