Bamberger/Blomstedt - Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 9

For Gustav Mahler, composing his early symphonies meant 'building a world'. His Ninth, however, seems more concerned with the deconstruction of this world � a look back, a long farewell. In the draft of his score, he noted words like 'O youth! Vanished! O love! Blown away!'. In 1909, his idyllic world was destroyed, having been diagnosed with a heart valve defect two years earlier � a disease that would ultimately lead to his death.