On a technical level this must, I think, be the finest recording the work has received. Every note is audible - and the achievement of the orchestra (still more extraordinary than that of the engineers) is to play them and show how they all matter. Gilbert juggles the many tempi of the inner movements to whip up the requisite hysteria (this isn't a performance for those who must have their banality served on a silver salver) before offering true catharsis with the Adagio.

The changing textures and dynamic contrasts in Mahler’s tumultuous Ninth Symphony have rarely had such clarity and bloom...An enthralling account, raptly contemplating bliss before sliding gently towards regret.