Gustav Mahler knew that no great composer wrote more than nine symphonies

[Bryn]

Again, post-Mahler, at least by the time he got to number 4, let alone 10.

[3rd Viennese School]

Mendlesohn wrote 17 symphonies! Ok, so the first 12 are for strings.

The C minor symphony apparently is called no.13 on the original score!

Anyway Mahler only wrote 1 symphony. It lasts 13 hours and 45 minutes.

3VS

[HighlandDougie]

The clans have been called, the bagpipes are skirling and we're out for the head of yon sassenach with the funny-sounding Italian name for his insulting remark about one of our national treasures (no, not Nicola Benedetti this time) - the BBC SSO may not be ...well, the Halle or the RLPO but third-rate is a bit hard. If you really want to hear third rate, try concerts in Cannes on a Sunday afternoon and the Orchestre Regional de Provence-Alpes Côte d'Azur - actually fifth-rate might be more accurate. And, while I admit that Ilan Volkov in Bruckner 5 doesn't have me cancelling my plans for the evening, I've heard very convincing performances given by him of Stravinsky, Messiaen and Kurtag. And to get back on thread, 3VS - you have hit the nail fairly and squarely on the head ....

[Roehre]

The clans have been called, the bagpipes are skirling and we're out for the head of yon sassenach with the funny-sounding Italian name for his insulting remark about one of our national treasures (no, not Nicola Benedetti this time) - the BBC SSO may not be ...well, the Halle or the RLPO but third-rate is a bit hard. If you really want to hear third rate, try concerts in Cannes on a Sunday afternoon and the Orchestre Regional de Provence-Alpes Côte d'Azur - actually fifth-rate might be more accurate. And, while I admit that Ilan Volkov in Bruckner 5 doesn't have me cancelling my plans for the evening, I've heard very convincing performances given by him of Stravinsky, Messiaen and Kurtag. And to get back on thread, 3VS - you have hit the nail fairly and squarely on the head ....

?????? what has this got to do with Mahler or composers who have or haven't composed nine symphonies in total?
Btw, last year there was an excellent concert in Cannes with Dvorak's Cello concerto and his Symphony no.7 (though the acoustics there are quite disastrous) and I've heard a nice concert with Schumann's 1st symphony (though with a clarinet fewer caused by technical problems with the instrument after some 5 minutes in the 1st mvt) and his cello concerto.
Not top class, but IMO not dissimilar to the BBC SSO

[HighlandDougie]

It was Cellini's comment about BBC SO and Ilan Volkov (or did I get my days mixed up over Performance on 3). I was being a bit unfair on the O R de PACA, as the estimable Philippe Bender was unwell when I last saw them, replaced off the subs bench by - to use another Cellini-ism "a stick-waver". They do, though, seem able to attract good solists (Sergey Khachatryan; Nicholas Angelich last Sunday; David Fray on my next visit in March), although the acoustics in that dungeon under the casino are indeed disastrous. Anyway, apologies for straying from those cowbell-filled alpine heights of GM...