A superstitious composer, Mahler greatly feared the musical “curse of the ninth,” which claimed the lives of other great symphonists like Beethoven, Schubert and Bruckner. His own ninth, a work of epic melodies and proportions, was indeed his final symphonic offering, a four-movement work that many hear as Mahler’s farewell to life, a glorious work that sets the soul aflame.

Music Director Robert Spano and the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra explore this tour-de-force, which begins with an irregular rhythm that Bernstein suggested was Mahler’s failing symphonic heartbeat.