Mahler's Symphony No. 2 "Resurrection"

I first heard this piece about two months after the attacks and about a month after my high school returned (I went back home ten days after 9/11). When I heard the music, I recalled the start of the cleanup process and the gradual reopening of Lower Manhattan. With the end of the piece, I imaged the Twin Towers rebuilt and re-dedicated to the sound of church bells ringing across the city (in retrospect, I misunderstood Giuliani's talk of rebuilding). As the rebuilding started to take longer and longer, however, I reimagined the piece to tell the story of the first six months (to the first "Tribute of Light", with the final moments sounding like a city's call to Heaven upon the towers of light being lit) and to the first two years (to acknowledge the blackout of August 2003 in reflection of the trials New York had to face since the attacks but how it is still reborn and ultimately is triumphant). In short, this piece and 9/11 are intertwined in my mind.

SK Chin-Lee