David Patrick Stearns: “Spem in alium certainly wouldn’t be appropriate. Even for those who can get past the possibly blasphemous sex-and-God nexus of the situation, the piece is only 12 minutes long. How can you get anything done in that short a time? Mahler symphonies are long and provide a good sound shield … but their anguish may be contagious. You don’t want anybody having an existential crisis until after orgasm.”