September 11, 2001

Following the events in New York City and in Washington, D. C., everyone in the country was in a state of shock. Our nights were full of nightmares. During the day we continually watched the scenes of horror over and over on TV. There was no relief for our emotions of sorrow and dismay at what had happened.

Several months later, our orchestra began to practice Mahler's Symphony No. 6. We performed our concert of this music later during the season of 2001/2002. While we rehearsed I am sure that each of us felt the tragic sentiments of Mahler's music in a new and fresh way. I am sure that our final performance reflected our new understandings of the deep emotionalism of Mahler's music. Here is the first movement of that work, as played by my orchestra at that concert.