Anyone acquainted with the "three B's," -- Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms -- knows that the "three M's" include Mozart, Mendelssohn, and Mahler (let's ditch Mussorgsky and Massenet for now). Of these three magisterial M's, Gustav Mahler was the most strenuous in his transformation of middle European folk tunes, as well as klezmer and Jewish liturgical material, into orchestral and vocal music of supernal beauty. His nine completed symphonies are as out-and-out glorious as are the best works by the greatest late nineteenth century classical composers, including "The Two Richards," Wagner and Strauss. Quirky originals that they are, however, Mahler's compositions lapsed into obscurity after he died in 1911, only to be resurrected -- a perfect verb, considering his Second Symphony -- by Leonard Bernstein in the 1960s.

Uri Caine, a self-described jazz musician, has, for years, reveled in "raising cain(e)" with Mahler. I'm certainly no purist when it comes to fiddling around with "The Great Gus," as I privately refer to Mahler. I was riveted, near the outset of this piece, when Caine's jazz ensemble riffed on the famous folk tune in the first movement of Mahler's "Titan" Symphony. "Please, Uri," I whispered to myself, "give me more jazzified Mahler!"

Well, Uri didn't comply with my wish. Interviewed by David Swatling, he went on to discuss the history of "Das Lied von der Erde"; how it has been performed by Chinese musicians; how Mahler was so distressed by his adulterous wife, Alma, that he consulted Freud; how some of Mahler's vocal music has been set to verses by Uri's poet friend.

For all its inside info about the Maestro in Toblach, Amsterdam, and New York City; for all Uri's devotion to "The Great Gus," except for one other leap into syncopation and improv, Caine fell short of jazzing up a storm. Public radio listeners less hard-core about Mahler than I may find this piece edifying. I only wish it were more of a hotwired, blue-note musical experience, merging Mahler with Mingus and Monk.