Coming to terms with Mahler

Barton Swaim, a onetime speechwriter, now a cultural columnist for The Weekly Standard, chronicles his difficult reconciliation with the symphonies of Gustav Mahler – finding, among other things, that Old Testament stories may be more helpful than psychoanalysis in developing an appreciation:

http://www.the-american-interest.com/2016/09/17/music-thats-everything/

(via http://www.artsjournal.com)