Ersterbend.

"It is music coming from another world, it is coming from eternity."

- Herbert von Karajan

Two harps stand out on the empty stage at the Usher Hall, shortly before the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra appear to play Gustav Mahler's astounding Ninth Symphony.

Written between 1908 and 1909, this four-movement work was the last symphony he completed before his death from endocarditis nearly two years later.

Sadly, he never got to hear it performed.