Work: Symphony no. 9 in D minor, WAB 109

Forensic musicology has its limits: controversy will continue to surround any new attempt at providing a convincing conclusion to Bruckner's final symphony.

In the first of two appearances to close the Elbphilharmonie's summer festival, Franz Welser-Möst and his doughty Clevelanders don't stint on discipline and power in Berg and Bruckner, but leave the listener emotionally short-changed.

Alpesh Chauhan and the BBC SO assay Bruckner's final symphonic statement, while Stephen Hough once more demonstrates his affinity for a Romantic composer like Rachmaninov.

Some last-minute changes in the programme undermine the success of a promising evening at Santa Cecilia.

All life is a preparation for death, as revealed in Messiaen's Et exspecto and Bruckner's Ninth Symphony. Zubin Mehta and the Berlin Philharmonic administer the exequies.