Now in his early 40s, British conductor Daniel Harding takes on the finest of Gustav Mahler’s symphonies – the Ninth – wherein the composer creates a sort of world symphony or overview of life itself, troubled as he was with serious cardiac problems. The Ninth is a symphony of opposites – of life and death, a continuing sense of catch and release, of passion and intellect.

Of course, the catalogue is overflowing. My favourites lie with Karajan’s live account and the only account where Bernstein conducted the same orchestra, the Berliner Philharmoniker, drawing so much emotion out of each phrase it’s as if he’s recomposing as he conducts.