How does music create imagery? And I mean the same type of imagery that poetry does. It's remarkable, if you think of it. An example for today: the first movement of Gustav Mahler's Symphony no. 2. One story regarding its writing has it that a friend went to visit Mahler in his summer composing hut on Lake Attersee in Upper Austria and was amazed by the view of the mountains that it provided. Mahler said something like, "Never mind that. It's all in the music", and proceeded to play him a draft of the piece in question. Incredibly, he was right. Listen to it and you'll "hear" (or is it "see"?) the mountains.

But how did he do it? What techniques would allow a composer to render alpine scenery in music? Considering this question should make us realize the infinite potential of music to make listeners think, feel, visualize and grow conceptually. It's as awesome as a mountain range, or anything else in nature.