Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra

Mahler’s Sixth Symphony is structurally his most conservative, but in terms of expression it is not conservative at all. It stretches the capabilities of Mahler’s largest orchestra with relentless marches, angular melodies, and adventurous harmonies. Although the composer was ambivalent about attributing programmatic aspects to his works, he informally titled the Sixth the ‘Tragic’ Symphony without providing a detailed programme. It has been called both absolute music and a portrayal of the fall of a Hero, Mankind, or Mahler himself.

Yet it is only in the colossal, overwhelming finale that the work’s fateful nature really becomes clear. Opening with an eerie, unsettling introduction, the movement proper is restless and striving. It consists of a series of waves of vigorous activity, each of which is crowned catastrophically by one of the hammer blows of fate. There is no recovery from the third and final climax. The music, its tragic destiny fulfilled, subsides into utter darkness.