An instrument was invented specially for this symphony!
Towards the end of the last movement, you will hear a 10kg hammer strikes two notes on a massive wooden box to signify blows of fate. A third blow was actually included in the original score, meant to fall the symphony’s hero «like a tree» but Gustav Mahler became so fearful his piece could be a self-fulling prophecy that he deleted it altogether… Feel the Luxembourg Philharmonic in full force as they perform this gargantuan work of emotional complexity at the Arsenal Jean-Marie Rausch in Metz, and hear for yourself how the «Mahler Box and Hammer» sounds in action.
