In 1909, when the troubled New York Philharmonic Orchestra needed a leader to rejuvenate and reshape it, composer and conductor Gustav Mahler accepted the challenge. By instituting regular rehearsals, developing a season with forty-six concerts--tripling the previous number, and taking the orchestra on tour, Mahler spent the final two years of his life striving to make the New York Philharmonic the best orchestra in the country, and equal of any in...