Mahler Symphony No 9: Luxembourg

Mahler’s final completed symphony, never heard while he was alive, doesn’t end so much as expire. Two slow movements frame two fast ones – the beginning, birth (or creation); the end, death (or ascension); with the hurried business of life in between.

Sir Simon Rattle once said that the music of Mahler never needed any translation for him; it just made sense. This performance promises to be a revelation.