Arensky Chamber Orchestra

For access:Take part in our launch campaign at prelaunch.theaco.co.ukOr join our Members Scheme, email support@theaco.co.ukMahler: Symphony No. 9 in D (arr. Klaus Simon)'It is terrifying, and paralyzing, as the strands of sound disintegrate ... we lose it all. But in letting go, we have gained everything.’ Leonard BernsteinBroken by the loss of his daughter, painfully aware of the heart-condition that would soon kill him and terrified by the ‘curse' of the 9th symphony, which had been the final composition of so many great artists before him, Mahler certainly had death on his mind when he wrote his 9th Symphony.But what kind of death? Pain and anguish certainly sing from the pages, but there is far more to it than this. Legendary conductor Herbert von Karajan called it ‘music from another world…coming from eternity’ and many have seen it not as an expression of trauma, but as a hymn, uplifting and affirmative, to life and what follows. The great composer Schoenberg even suggested it was not Mahler’s music, but that of God, speaking through him.Join the ACO as we pull apart the strands of this masterpiece with short performances and thoughts about the symphony, Mahler the man, and how the great musicians that have performed and recorded this piece have interpreted its complex meaning. Then prepare yourself for the main event: the power and majesty of Mahler’s 9th, in the UK premiere performance of a special chamber orchestra arrangement by Klaus Simon.