Are you all sitting comfortably? Jonathan is about to make an announcement:

I recently saw a recording of Mahler's Fifth with Chailly and the Royal
Concertgebouw Orchestra.  It was, I should add, when an astounding concert
by Chailly and the RCO was still ringing in my ears, so perhaps this swayed
my decision - in accordance with an undertaking I had made with a certain
John Deacon - to give Mahler a second (and in my case, fifteenth) try and
made me purchase this CD.

Well - the penny has finally dropped.  I have never been a Mahler fan
(I would go so far as saying I actively disliked his music), but this
recording has forced me to radically change my opinion.  It has been on
my player for a lot of the past week.  And I am actually growing to enjoy
it.  Liking it, almost.

Now, all you Mahler addicts out there: is Chailly's version so different
to those I may have heard in the past? Is it so superior as to convince me
of the quality of the music? Or is it just that Mahler appeals more to
somebody who has just past fifty than to somebody a lot younger? And where
do I go from here? To "Das Lied"? To other symphonies? Tell me - I am
thirsting for more.....

Jonathan