The Fifth is a cursed piece. Nobody understands it.

That was Gustav Mahler’s pronouncement in March 1905 following a performance of his Fifth Symphony in Hamburg. He had been working on his new symphony for almost three years before it premiered on 18 October 1904 in Cologne, with the Gürzenich Orchestra and Gustav Mahler on the podium.

To many of his contemporaries, the work seemed too bold, too radical – perhaps also insufficiently understood, given that programmatic explanations had been added to the so-called ‘Wunderhorn’ Symphonies, Nos. 2 to 4. Not only the number and the order of the movements seemed new, but stylistically Mahler also broke new ground with his Fifth. Now, all at once, his musical language changed, a transformation that evidently gave him some unease later. Shortly before his death, he made alterations to the instrumentation. Today the work is considered the beginning of his new creative phase, which culminated in his Ninth Symphony. It’s also one of his most popular symphonies.