Mahler: Sinfonie No. 6 a-moll

Featuring

Simone Young
Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg
Gustav Mahler

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Performer Biography

Simone Young, the conductor on this recording, is the Artistic Director of the Hamburg State Opera and Chief Music Director of the Hamburg Philharmonic since August 2005.

Compositional Technique

The symphony's Finale is over 30 minutes long, making it one of Mahler's longest symphonic movements and breaking the traditional classical symphony form.

Recording & Production

This recording of Mahler's Sixth Symphony by Simone Young and the Hamburg Philharmonic is a live recording from a Philharmonic subscription concert at the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg.

Interpretation

There has been intense debate since the late 1950s about the correct order of the middle movements (Scherzo and Andante) in Mahler's Sixth Symphony.

Compositional Technique

Mahler's Sixth Symphony includes a 'hammer blow' effect in the Finale, originally conceived as five blows but later reduced to three, intended to sound like an axe blow rather than metallic.

Composition History

Mahler's Sixth Symphony was composed during what is considered the happiest period of his life, with the middle movements written in the summer of 1903 and the composition largely finished by autumn 1904.

Critical Reception

For many years, Mahler's Sixth Symphony was one of his least performed, with its first commercial recording in 1952, much later than the Second Symphony which was recorded in 1924.