Composed by GUSTAV MAHLER (1860-1911) between 1893 and 1896, SYMPHONY NO. 3 IN D MINOR is the longest symphony in the repertoire. Performances will often include a brief intermission between the first movement and the other five. Scoring the work for large orchestra, a women’s choir, a boys’ choir, and solo alto, Mahler turned to two sources of text: Nietzsche’s Also Sprach Zarathustra and the collection of German folk poetry Des Knaben Wunderhorn. The concluding Adagio, acclaimed for its expansive sublimity, was described by the Swiss critic William Ritter as “perhaps the greatest Adagio written since Beethoven”. The first performance of the entire symphony took place at Krefeld on June 9, 1902, the composer conducting the Grzenich Orchestra.