At about 89 minutes, Michael Tilson Thomas' Mahler Ninth is one of the slowest on disc (along with Bernstein's DG recording with the Vienna Philharmonic and Chailly's Philips account with the Concergebouw). Most performances are in the neighborhood of 80 minutes, usually yielding a tighter perspective. But this last and perhaps greatest of Mahler's symphonies can take a wide variety of interpretations--and MTT's is certainly worthy of consideration, even as a supplement to Chailly's greater dynamism, Bernstein's New York Philharmonic emotionalism (on Sony), or the detailed, cogent versions by Gielen, Ancerl, and Kubelik. Drawn from a series of 2004 live performances, MTT's cool, dry-eyed approach has many finely wrought aspects, not least of which are the exquisite chamber music-like close of the horn-soaked opening movement, the warm strings in the Adagio, and the structural clarity of the outer movements. The playing throughout is on the highest level, but some may find tension sometimes slackening, percussion tame, and middle movements short on the grotesqueries and irony typical of Mahler's mordant humor. This Ninth adheres to the high standards (performance and sonics) of MTT's San Francisco Mahler cycle. -- Dan Davis