Mahler Symphony no 6 Vienna

"Among Simon Rattle's first concert programmes as the new chief conductor of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra was Gustav Mahler's Sixth Symphony. The performances marked the beginning of a new chapter in Mahler interpretation, for Rattle, like his predecessors Jansons, Maazel and Kubelík, is an ardent admirer of the composer. BR-KLASSIK has now released the live recording of the concerts. Gustav Mahler's Sixth Symphony is perhaps the darkest work he ever wrote – its nickname is “The Tragic”.

A great version, spacious and powerful, with a strong personal stamp from the intepreter, the unique sound of the Vienna Philharmonic, and some uniquely revelatory details of interpretation.

Gustav Mahler’s Sixth Symphony was written between 1903 and 1904, mostly in Vienna, during a period of professional success and private happiness. But musically the ‘Tragic’, as the symphony is sometimes called, seems like a bizarre reversal of Mahler’s life events and an anticipation of future tragedies: the death of a daughter, the diagnosis of Mahler’s heart disease, and his profound occupational crisis at the Vienna Court Opera. They would soon bring to an abrupt end Mahler’s short spell of good fortune.

In the summers of 1903 and 1904, Mahler was as happy as ever in his life. Yet it was then he wrote his darkest music, the Sixth Symphony (which he himself may or may not have called the “Tragic,” though others certainly have) and the two final songs of the Kindertotenlieder (Songs on the Deaths of Children).

Claudio Abbado began his career with Mahler and has been conducting the composer for his entire professional life. The Ninth and, above Orchestral Mahler 704 all, the Seventh, have consistently brought out the best in him.

David Zinman’s Mahler has been warmly received in many quarters. He is proceeding through the cycle chronologically and the Fifth will not disappoint those who like their Mahler sane and lucid. Sound quality remains near state-of-the-art even if there seems to be too much hall ambience for absolute clarity this time. The orchestra has been carefully drilled – individual members are named in the attractive, copiously annotated booklet – but it is idle to pretend that Zürich can offer either the characterful solo playing or the corporate weight of Chicago, Vienna or Berlin. That the back inlay and the track-listing misrepresent the work’s tripartite structure matters little.

This recording of Mahler’s Ninth Symphony is an event, because it was made with period instruments of the kind the composer used in Vienna. The Mahler Academy Orchestra set itself the task of reconstructing this instrumentarium and researching how musicians of the time played it: ‘We were struck during our rehearsals by the incredibly distinctive characterisation of the woodwinds, the shattering blare of the brass, the perfect balance between the instruments, and the pure and warm sound of the strings…

Maazel's mid-Eighties Mahler cycle was a prestige project, the first time that the august Vienna Phil. had ever recorded all nine symphonies. It's generally acknowledged that they play gloriously and that Sony provided vivid digital sound. As for Maazel, his notions are never less than unusual, so it can be said that his Mahler is like no one else's.