The year Mahler died witnessed the birth of the Chinese composer Ding Shande.

Mahler's Des Knaben Wunderhorn is a collection of songs that draws material from folk poetry that doesn't attempt to euphemize its thorny side. He wrote them into musical fables with sparkling, vivid images.

Similarly, Ding's Chinese Folk Song Arrangements and My Love Gives Me a Sunflower are also full of everyday delights. But different from Mahler's indelible style, Ding's music is more suggestive, flexible, and witty with lingering Oriental charm. Poems of Western Yunnan composed in the 1980s exemplifies the composer's exploration of modern techniques. Also rare is the Ding's Double Concerto, an orchestral arrangement of his Piano Trio, a masterpiece with a heavily Chinese style and emotional profundity.