Mahler’s ninth full-scale symphonic work was Das Lied von der Erde, but such was the composer’s superstition that a Ninth Symphony might be his last, following the examples of Beethoven, Schubert and Bruckner, that he refused to name the work among his symphonies. Instead is next substantial orchestral work became his Ninth Symphony, a work of awesome scope that remains one of the towering symphonies of the twentieth century. Mahler did not live to conduct the work, the première performance being given by Bruno Walter in 1912. Astonishingly it was not until 26 years later that Walter made the first of his two recordings of the symphony, although it still stands as one of the most profound performances in recording history. Not only is this a unique document of the work’s first interpreter with the first orchestra that ever played it, it is also the swansong of the pre-war Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Mere weeks after the recording the Nazis invaded Austria and the orchestra was purged of its Jewish members – including Walter. The intensity of this extraordinary performance, suffused with the tension inherent both in the work itself and in the contemporary political situation, sweeps all before it.