There was a time, not long ago, when what I heard, especially in the final movement, was an open acknowledgement of death... I took this music as a metaphor for reassurance, confirming my own strong hunch that the dying of every living creature, the most natural of all experiences, has to be a peaceful experience. The long passages on all the strings at the end, as close as music can come to expressing silence itself, I used to hear as Mahler's idea of leave-taking at its best. But always, I have heard this music as a solitary, private listener, thinking about death." - Lewis Thomas: Late Night Thoughts on Listening to Mahler's Ninth Symphony