The second movement, the first of two brilliant Scherzo movements, consists of two main ideas, the first of which is notated in consistently changing metres, which would have proved a challenge to Mahler’s conducting technique had he lived to perform the symphony. This alternates with a joyful and typically Mahlerian Ländler.

It is almost certainly this movement Paul Stefan (1879-1943) had in mind when he described the symphony as containing “gaiety, even exuberance” (Cooke’s translation).

Movement 2: Scherzo. Schnelle Viertel

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A listening guide of Symphony No. 10 - 2nd Movement with Lew Smoley