Performers
Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester
Claudio Abbado (conductor)

Gustav Mahler's last completed work, written shortly after his wife Alma's infidelity had become known, and already ill with the congenital heart condition that was to hasten his death just a year later. Fundamentally part of Mahler's 'Third period', Symphony No 9 embraces the polyphonic sound that Mahler had been experimenting with, and is scored for an orchestra made up of four flutes, piccolo, three oboes, cor anglais, an E flat clarinet, three B flat clarinets, a bass clarinet, four bassoons, a contrabassoon, four French horns, three trumpets, three trombones, a tuba, timpani, glockenspiel, cymbals, bass drum, side drum, triangle, tambourine, three bells, two harps and strings.

Here, the skilled youth orchestra that bears Mahler's name performs the piece, led by Mahler expert Claudio Abbado. The history of Claudio Abbado's relationship to Mahler is something quite special in itself. He has been established as a leading Mahler interpreter for so many years that it is easy to underestimate the role he has played in creating the huge appetite for Mahler's music that today is a prominent feature of worldwide musical culture.

According to La Stampa; "Together with conductor Claudio Abbado, the cream of young European musicians who make up this outstanding orchestra infused the symphony with a luminosity that glowed with an inner brilliance."