In his day, Mahler was accused of banality in his themes. It was the peasant melodies and evocative country waltzes, or Ländler, which his contemporaries derided, but these are now what is most attractive and fun in Mahler as one could easily sense when the Ninth Symphony was put into the hands of the 150 members of the National Youth Orchestra at the end of the third week at the Proms. Of average age 16 and journeying from as far as Aberdeen, Guernsey, Ipswich and Antrim, the beauty they achieved in tone and phrasing was born of the awestruck wonder one has at the first encounter with genius. Sir Mark Elder (pictured) conducted with not a little wonder himself at the gifts of the teenagers before him, trained as they had been by rehearsal conductors, as he summoned each solo to play