Mahler's Fourth comes across as heavenly light and almost too harmless. The basic mood of the piece is like the "undifferentiated blue of the sky, which is more difficult to hit than all changing and contrasting inks", the composer said. At the latest during the soprano solo in the final movement, which speaks drastically of the "butcher Herod", it becomes clear that this sky can also darken.

The history of the symphonic movement Blumine, however, is full of mystery: once part of the 1st Symphony, Mahler deleted the movement after only a few performances during a thorough revision of the work. After the movement had long been lost, Blumine was unearthed again in 1966; the work has since been performed as a separate piece.

The German composer Walter Braunfels proves that violas can also sob. The premiere of his Schottische Phantasie was banned in 1933 under the reorganisation of German cultural life. The work counters with lightness and sunny rapture - the source of inspiration for it was Scotland.