Mahler: Symphony No. 6 (with Score)

Gustav Mahler:
Symphony No. 6 "Tragic" (with Score)
Composed: 1903–1904
Conductor: Michael Gielen
Orchestra: SWR Symphonieorchester

00:00 1. Allegro energico, ma non troppo. Heftig, aber markig. (A minor)
24:59 2. Scherzo: Wuchtig (A minor)
39:32 3. Andante moderato (E-flat major)
54:15 4. Finale: Allegro moderato – Allegro energico (A minor)

The Symphony No. 6 in A minor by Gustav Mahler is a symphony in four movements, composed in 1903 and 1904, with revisions from 1906. It is sometimes nicknamed the Tragic ("Tragische"), though the origin of the name is unclear.

Mahler conducted the work's first performance at the Saalbau concert hall in Essen on 27 May 1906. Mahler composed the symphony at an exceptionally happy time in his life, as he had married Alma Schindler in 1902, and during the course of the work's composition his second daughter was born. This contrasts with the tragic, even nihilistic, ending of No. 6. Both Alban Berg and Anton Webern praised the work when they first heard it. In a 1908 letter to Webern, Berg said in his opinion there was just one "sixth symphony", despite that of Beethoven.

In addition to very large woodwind and brass sections, Mahler augmented the percussion section with several unusual instruments, including the famous "Mahler hammer". The sound of the hammer, which features in the last movement, was stipulated by Mahler to be "brief and mighty, but dull in resonance and with a non-metallic character (like the fall of an axe)." The sound achieved in the premiere did not quite carry far enough from the stage, and indeed the problem of achieving the proper volume while still remaining dull in resonance remains a challenge to the modern orchestra. Various methods of producing the sound have involved a wooden mallet striking a wooden surface, a sledgehammer striking a wooden box, or a particularly large bass drum, or sometimes simultaneous use of more than one of these methods.