站在兩百年長遠的交響曲傳統之最後階段，馬勒的交響曲無論就其音樂語彙、表達形式、或世界觀等各方面都有其特殊位置，其中可以第三號交響曲作為他交響曲理念的代表。藉由這交響曲的探討可以掌握到他交響曲的基本特質，尤其是其特有的音樂語言，約有以下幾方面：1)在建構上朝向多樂章組曲式的發展，且重心移至最後一個樂章，成為新的交響曲典型 2)歌曲的各種形式在交響曲中之運用與融會，獨特的聲樂語言賦予其音樂獨具之熱力 3)多樣的風格與多樣樂念之雜陳成就其以交響曲作為一個世界之建造的思考 4)特別是許多獨特的馬勒式語彙，如平凡生活中的曲調和自然原始的音響，以及許多馬勒個人常用的，帶著獨特表達的音型。這些成為馬勒交響曲之基本面貌。
Gustav Mahler’s third symphony is a fully manifestation of his symphonic idea, especially in regard to his musical vocabulary, the form of his expression, and his view of symphonic world. Through the study of his third symphony we could grasp the basic characteristics in his symphony, such as: 1) like a suite, his symphony tends to more-movements, and which concentrate on the last movement. A new type of symphony is thus formed; 2) he integrates all kinds of songs in his symphony; 3) he creates a worldview in his symphony by including diversified musical styles and ideas; 4) his unique musical vocabulary of, such as “naturetone", “folklanguage", and some personal musical expressions. All these form the basic music feature of Gustav Mahler's symphony.
