i like him anyway.but regarding to "blue/dark" music, i prefer Tchaikovsky more.
Mahler's style is only one drop of the entire classical music sea.
you are not a perfectionist, (Mahler himself is a perfectionist and thus his music.) you just like 流畅优美的旋律, we taste differently. nothing to do with perfectionism. those 停顿, if you put yourself into the composer's mind (back then, when he wrote the piece),learn about his psychological activity, you maybe able to understand him/the piece more.
to understand a piece, it always is better(best, from my point of view) to learn about the composer's bio first.
music is a way to vent human's emotion. some one(sad one, like Mahler) wants to tell you his true self, some other(sad one too, like Tchaikovsky) disguises himself well (and make you happy--this also responds to noproblem(密西洒家。o O)'s post above)