The Mahler Academy Orchestra set itself the task of reconstructing this instrumentarium and researching how musicians of the time played it: ‘We were struck during our rehearsals by the incredibly distinctive characterisation of the woodwinds, the shattering blare of the brass, the perfect balance between the instruments, and the pure and warm sound of the strings. . . They took Mahler’s brilliant orchestration to yet another level’, says Philipp Von Steinaecker, artistic director of this ambitious ‘Originalklang’ (original sound) project and conductor of this orchestra, which brings some fifty young musicians into contact with the finest instrumentalists from the world’s leading formations (Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden, Wiener Symphoniker etc.). Together they made this historic recording in Dobbiaco-Toblach in Italy, where Mahler composed his monumental symphony in 1909, two years before his death.