Mahler: Symphony No. 9 in D major

“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.” Gramophone Magazine, November 2009

“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.” The Times, 21st November 2009

“There's space, silence in the twilight zones and unerring inner clarity of the embattled textures, but also just the right amount of impetus towards the movement's three big collapses. The great Adagio finale, too, delays the most impassioned strains until it really counts. ...a fine achievement in a towering symphony.” BBC Music Magazine, October 2009 ****

“...a remarkably lucid account that gradually builds from a notably spacious first movement to a luminously intense account of the finale. What seems at first to be a well crafted, intelligently musical performance has, by the end, become something much more remarkable.” The Guardian, 18th February 2010 *****

“Mahler’s last completed symphony is a colossal test of both orchestra and conductor. Here the players pass with flying colours...[Nott's] aim of bringing out Mahler’s latent modernism by emphasising extremes is good in principle, and often works well.” The Telegraph, 20th August 2010 ***

“Sanderling is unfussy, with no nudging or pointing up of pet moments, but there is no stinting. One emerges drained, as one should be. In the last movement the strings show themselves capable of an impressive fullness and weight of tone.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2008 ****

“The maestro's score-driven approach to Mahler, and to music-making in general, can rival Klemperer's in its intellectual sobriety. ” David Gutman, Gramophone Magazine, June 2008

“Tilson Thomas immediately establishes a profoundly rapt atmosphere, and the orchestra take what can best be described as a bel canto approach, singing their lines with warmth and poised intensity. In keeping with this, the conductor allows the players considerable rhythmic freedom. Yet one always senses a firm hand on the tiller, and the music is never pulled out of shape, as sometimes seems the case in, say, Bernstein's later recording for DG.
Some may feel that there's insufficient grit or angst here, and certainly the second movement ländler is hearty rather than coarse and the Rondo-Burleske could sneer more viciously – though the thrilling accelerando in the latter movement's coda is likely to get one's adrenalin pumping. But, to be fair, Tilson Thomas doesn't entirely neglect the music's darker qualities, and these often creep into one's consciousness rather subtly.
The interpretation's lasting impression, however, is one of lyrical radiance. In the symphony's final pages, Tilson Thomas tenderly holds the melodic shards together so one hears the song continue, even through the silences. And the evanescent glow of the strings at the end – like the last glimmer of light immediately after sunset – is not so much wistful as consolatory. An unusually moving experience, then, and one that marks yet another high point in this continuing cycle.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“…a most beautiful Ninth with playing of tremendous warmth and poise.” Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2005