In years past, Lorin Maazel has liked to end the New York Philharmonic season with a Mahler symphony. This year, however, Mr. Maazel – who is the orchestra’s music director – is ending it with a Bruckner symphony. Even so, he is including a Mahler symphony in these final weeks. And it is the composer’s last, the Ninth.

Is this the best – the most profound, the most brilliant, the most moving – of the Mahler symphonies? Yes, until you consider all the others. And then you find that it is impossible to play favorites.

On Wednesday night, Mr. Maazel walked very, very slowly to the podium – head down, tired-seeming. Even exhausted-seeming. Was he up to it? Oh, yes – he was just girding for battle.

Mr. Maazel, who is nearing 80 and has been conducting since he was in single digits, has lived with this symphony for a very long time. He has decided ideas about it, and the ability to act on them. And he gave a remarkably smart and affecting performance.

He handled the odd rhythms at the beginning neatly and expertly. Everything was clear, but nothing was overly precise or clinical. He had the sweep of the first movement – and of the entire symphony – but did not skimp on detail.

And Mr. Maazel did not handle the first movement, or any other part, with sugar tongs. The music had its ferocity, its anguish – its hell. It was now angular, now smooth. The music was not so much pretty as characterful. Often, a conductor will give you a kind of Mahlerian soup. Mr. Maazel’s Ninth had plenty of crunch.

He did not fuss in this first movement, although a couple of crests did not work out. They were a little awkward and uncoordinated – but only a little.

The orchestra played with amazing accuracy, and even the horns behaved – and they more than behaved: They were downright unerring.

The final measures of the first movement are rather like the first measures: They are tricky in rhythm, and also in texture. Mr. Maazel handled them brainily – brainily and feelingly.

And Mahler’s second movement? It was brisk, as brisk as you have ever heard it. But it was not rushed. And after a few pages, the tempo seemed perfectly natural. The music had its desired coarseness, but did not descend into the vulgar. And virtually every measure grabbed you.

It is good to report that the orchestra’s accuracy continued – very much including the horns, which trilled and pirouetted like nymphs.

The next movement was again brisk, but it had plenty of character, including sass – and a dose of madness. Mr. Maazel was not afraid of emotion, emotion of various sorts. But he did no overemoting. And the final pages of the third movement were so energized and crisp, some of the audience cheered and whooped.

But there was one movement left to go – and after all that energy, we needed a winding down, right? A Mahlerian farewell.

Mr. Maazel did not see it that way, exactly. He injected the last movement with extraordinary intensity and strength. Rarely have you heard it so unprecious and so unlanguorous. In his conception and in his very body, Mr. Maazel was wired. And yet every ounce of Mahler’s nobility came out.

In the final pages, we indeed had the winding down – and Mr. Maazel did some of his “micromanaging” here. But this was far from unintelligent and ineffective micromanaging. The music had its say.

When the symphony was over, Mr. Maazel seemed overcome. He could hardly bow, could hardly nod his head. And he trudged off the stage as though he had fought a war.

His handling of the Ninth was both intellectual and artistic – just like the symphony, and just like Mahler. Furthermore, I could not help comparing this performance with that of the Berlin Philharmonic, under Sir Simon Rattle, earlier this year. That performance took place in Carnegie Hall.

Both accounts were admirable – and very different. The Berliners’ was beautiful, glowing, ethereal. The New Yorkers’ had more heart and grit – more life. This was an amazingly human account. Mr. Maazel is sometimes known as a bit of a machine – oh, no, certainly not on this occasion.

Mr. Maazel will conduct Mahler’s Ninth tomorrow night and next Friday afternoon. If you want to hear a seasoned musician in one of music’s greatest works – go.