Your last concert was to see who and when?

" it was like 90 minutes of driving through a Kansas wheatfield"

That's funny! Mahler can be that way at times no doubt.

Not a giant Mahler fan. so I don't know the repertoire all that well, but I did see a performance of Symphony #9 many years back that was a knockout. It was memorable enough to prompt me to explore his work a bit further, but I never found much else that grabbed me.

Mahler has some lovely moments, but no doubt it takes a commitment to have a chance of being able to soak it all in.

Even that Kansas wheatfield, like nature in general, has a lot of interesting things going on in places, but you gotta slow down or even get out of the car to have a chance of seeing it.

Mahler #3 is mostly about nature I believe, so the Kansas wheatfield comparison is probably a reasonable one.

I first heard Mahler #3 on NPR years ago. THere was a nice intro explaining what it was about beforehand (see wikipedia entry for it for more). I was totally taken by it from the outset. Then it was a lengthy rollercoaster ride from there, lots of ups and downs, and I felt accordingly along the way. At teh end, I felt transformed in some way, somehow more in tune with the world around me, and I was ready for some Bach at that point. I think the explanation provided up front prior to listening was a big part of that. It all made sense in the end.

I've been a subscriber to the bible "Grammphone" for over forty year and I never heard anyone say such a silly thing.
What I have read, many times,is like the following from J.S. Smith in"The Gift of Music" .

"One is aware that Mahler tried to do too much.His excesses can be heard in the exhaustive tension is his music and in the repetitions. His symphonies are long and they lack unity.They all begin to sound alike , and many times the composer finds it difficult to bring the music to a close"

IMHO Mahler is the fave of people who like entertainment sound more than music.