Cocktail Party Fact: Gustav Mahler gave this piece the subtitle Symphony for Tenor and Contralto (or Baritone) and Orchestra, and composed it right after his 8th Symphony. But he is said to have been superstitiously afraid that he would die after completing 9 symphonies, so he tried cheating fate by naming it The Song of the Earth. He did live to write a 9th Symphony and even part of a 10th — but he died without ever hearing Das Lied performed.

Commitment Factor: 60 minutes or longer, depending on the conductor.

Vital Statistics: Very Late Romantic Period. A six-movement setting of a German translation of some Chinese poetry. The 6th movement is as long as the other 5 put together.

What to Listen For: Mahler’s matching of music to words is so masterful that you need a good translation of the text in front of you to enjoy Das Lied to the fullest. Note how Mahler likes to use his huge orchestra in delicate chamber-like combinations of instruments. Note also how Mahler is always his Middle European self, even when he’s trying to sound “oriental,” as in the third movement, where a vaguely Chinese-sounding pentatonic introduction changes almost immediately to an Austrian folk dance. But the sadness and beauty of the earth are universal: listen to the spellbinding evocation of autumn mists hanging over water in the second movement, and the majesty and mystery of nightfall in the last movement.