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The great conductor Leonard Bernstein, composer of West Side Story, discusses the last completed Symphony of Gustav Mahler, the 9th. Written as Mahler was dying, the Symphony seems to sum up all that he believed about Viennese society, his religion (he was Jewish, but had been forced to 'convert' to secure his job as head of the Vienna Opera House), his beautiful wife Alma who later became the mistress of innumerable great artists, and finally Mahler's grim realization of his own mortality. Hence the title of Bernstein's tribute - 'Four Ways to Say Farewell'. In rehearsal and performance with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in the Sofiensaal in Vienna, this unique film originally made in 1971 contributes much to our understanding of Mahler and his life's work through the words and musical prowess of one of his supreme 20th century interpreters, Leonard Bernstein.
