This remarkably original work, with its recurring quotations from the  composer's own songs, notably Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Songs  of a Wayfarer) and Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Boy's Magic Horn),  is the perfect expression of one of Mahler's most quoted sayings, "The  symphony is a world; it must contain everything". The opening movement,  filled with sounds that Mahler remembered from his childhood, depicts  "Nature's awakening from the long sleep of winter", and is followed by  an exuberant scherzo and trio based on a L+¤ndler. The disturbing slow  movement funeral march, based on the children's song Fr+¨re Jacques, is  unlike anything that had been heard before, and the symphony concludes  with music of thrilling dramatic intensity. Marin Alsop has been Music Director of the  Baltimore Symphony  Orchestra since 2007, a relationship now extended to 2015. Currently  Conductor Emeritus of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and  Music Director Laureate of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, since  1992 she has also been Music Director of California's prize-winning  Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music.