Philharmonia Orchestra

After the first performance of his Fifth Symphony, composed between 1901 and 1903, Mahler is said to have declared, “Nobody understood it. I wish I could conduct the first performance fifty years after my death.” More than a hundred years after his death it is certainly recognised as one of the most emotionally complex and ambitious symphonies of the 20th century. From its famous funereal opening trumpet solo to its blazing finale, it encompasses an extraordinary range of styles and moods. At its heart is the Adagietto, an extended love poem to his wife Alma, who he met in 1901 and proposed to just three weeks after their first meeting.