Political issues aside, I’ve been looking for information on how HvK first discovered or heard Mahler in the first place. Where did the first to hear him? What was his reaction? How did he feel about the composer being banned under the Nazis? I have come across nothing on this and I feel it’s an important question because the conductor obviously did come across him and eventually started to perform him, which I believe is very much to his credit... It’s almost like a complete reversal of what one might have expected of him considering the anti-Semitic political situation he grew up with in Germany as a young man. If anyone has information on this, please share, and I’m surprised that no one has asked this before, unless I’ve missed it... Of course, with Gustav Mahler growing in popularity, it might have looked conspicuous if he hadn’t conducted him after the War, like he was somehow prejudiced against him. But ultimately, I don’t think he was. But perhaps he still ended up doing some soul-searching after the war with regard to the Jewish composer after not being able to perform him during the Nazi era... I also believe HvK was highly influenced by the recordings and performances of Mengelberg, who was known for his use of portamentos in his Mahler performances. In fact, perhaps that’s where HvK first heard Mahler. Among the modern conductors, Herbert von Karajan used the portamentos himself more than anyone, with sensitivity, beauty and skillful, in my opinion, in his recording of the Mahler 4th. I was profoundly surprised and impressed... With regard to religion, I’ve never considered Mahler as conventionally religious. I think he could be better described as a mystic, one who was highly metaphysically inclined, which included his study of Theosophy, which is hardly a part of any standard religion. And yet people try to interpret him falsely along the lines of conventional religion, perhaps because they just have not read enough about him and there’s always the tendency for one to superimpose one’s own religious views on him. In any event, I believe von Karajan’s views on Mahler would reveal a great deal about him as a man and a conductor.