No concert season can pass by without Benjamin Zander putting one of Mahler's symphonies on the programme. His special affinity with the music of the Austrian composer is known and recognised worldwide - as the numerous prizes won by his recordings attest. Mahler's Symphony No. 9 has an almost magnetic hold on the conductor, constantly occupying his energies. Similarly to Beethoven, the older Mahler felt he needed to leave a testament, a last message to posterity in the form of a final, large-scale musical work. In the shadow of his own mortality, Mahler reflected on the coming of the Last Judgement, on life and death, the questionable significance of our earthly struggle, the tormenting fear of death, and the moment of reconciliation when death means not merely the end of our time on earth, but also our passing into the infinite dimension of everlasting life.
For Zander, conducting this symphony is an always unsettling, but at the same time calming experience, akin to a homecoming. Under his baton, the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra invite us into the dark underworld of Hades, but with a youthful energy that weaves a rainbow into its hopeless and bleakly sorrowful depths, a bridge between the inexorability of mortality and the uncertain promise of eternal life - to the joy and relief of us all.

Presented by: CMI - Concert Masters International