Bruckner’s Fifth is a contrapuntal masterpiece and his grandest symphony until we reach the Eighth. Its finale is a tour-de-force and gives us an idea of what the finale of his uncompleted Ninth Symphony might have sounded like. The descending bass line of its magnificent dark and halting opening – so effectively recalled in the finale – is inimitable. Although it was for long available only in an inauthentic version by Franz Schalk, it’s distinguished by never having been subject to revision by Bruckner, who was to die before he was even able to hear it performed by an orchestra. When Bruckner wrote his masterpiece, he was still far from establishing himself as a composer in Vienna. His spirits were at a low ebb when he wrote to a friend that “my life has lost all joy and delight – in vain and for nothing.” The Fifth represents a radiant pinnacle amid that sense of darkness.