No vocal parts in this symphony, but it is still huge. Mahlers fifth consists of five parts, grouped by the composer in three groups, to make it nice and complicated. The fourth part contains his most famous theme, good for many performances.
If you think Mahler symphonies are dramatic, what until you read about his life. So he wrote this symphony in his composers cabin, locked away from busy life and other disturbances. Right before he started, in 1901, he got a hemorrhage that nearly killed him. Shortly after he met Alma Schindler and married her. The couple got their first child the next year.
Also on this record, is an ominous piece: the Kindertotenlieder, a work from 1904. It is based on a collection by Friedrich Rückert of the same name. Rückert wrote 428 songs in pouring for the death of his two little children. Alma was not happy with Mahler writing this, as he was tempting fate in a big way. And indeed, three years later they lost their eldest daughter.