"Gustav Mahler's Second Symphony started life as a single-movement tone poem called Todtenfeier (Funeral Rites). Completed in 1888 one year before Richard Strauss' Death and Transfiguration it echoed the composer's vision of seeing himself lying dead in a funeral bier surrounded by flowers. ... Minnesota Orchestra and Osmo Vänskä have received praise for their previous Mahler recordings ('Vänskä and the orchestra are among the finest exponents...