Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

Mahler’s great farewell to life is performed by Mahler’s own orchestra: the Vienna Philharmonic, conducted by Adam Fischer.

The very first bars of Mahler’s Ninth seem to falter. The stricken composer put the rhythm of his failing heart into the orchestra – and began his Ninth Symphony with a sigh of farewell. You’ll hear it all, because no orchestra understands this music more instinctively than the Vienna Philharmonic.

But that’s the beginning, not the end, and over eighty minutes of music Mahler wrings every last drop of love, terror and sweetness from a life devoted to the human spirit. The Barbican is London’s home of great international orchestras but even so, the chance to hear the Vienna Philharmonic play the Ninth under the baton of Adam Fischer – with whom they’ve worked for nearly five decades – makes this a real date for the diary.