Mahler has long been central to Iván Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra’s repertory and discography, so it comes as something of a surprise to realise how little of his work they have given us in concert in the UK over the years. Their London performance of the Ninth Symphony, part of their current European tour, helped redress the balance, as well as reminding us what superb Mahlerians they can be.
The composer’s last completed symphony, written after the diagnosis of the heart condition that later claimed his life, the Ninth is almost invariably described as one of classical music’s most far reaching confrontations with mortality. “Terrifying and paralysing, as the strands of sound disintegrate,” was Leonard Bernstein’s famous comment, though the pervading sense of dissolution is balanced by a deep, at times agonisingly poignant awareness of the beauties of the world soon to be left behind.
