BaL 7.01.23 - Mahler: Symphony no. 6 in A minor

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

10.30 am
Building a Library
Edward Seckerson chooses his favourite recording of Mahler’s Symphony No. 6 in A minor.

More often than not, Mahler’s symphonies end positively, whether in triumph, exaltation, joyful exuberance, quiet bliss, or resignation and acceptance. But the Sixth is unique in its tragic, minor-key conclusion and this Symphony as a whole is among his darkest music. Intriguingly, he wrote it during one of the happiest periods of his life, the summers of 1903 and 1904. Mahler was convinced that, in his music, he had the ability to foresee and even predict events and, painful though it might be, as an artist he could not avoid doing so. And in 1907, when he looked back on the Sixth Symphony’s finale with its ‘three hammer blows of fate’ he could point to the death of his daughter Maria, the diagnosis of the severe heart disease which would kill him, and the bitter end of his decade as director of the Vienna Opera. Closer to our own times, some have suggested that, as well as tragic autobiography, Mahler was predicting the tragedies of a whole century.

Available versions:-

Berliner Philharmoniker, Claudio Abbado
Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Claudio Abbado *
Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Claudio Abbado (DVD)
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir John Barbirolli
New Philharmonia Orchestra, Sir John Barbirolli
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Eduard van Beinum *
New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein
Wiener Philharmoniker, Leonard Bernstein
Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra, Pierre Boulez
Wiener Philharmoniker, Pierre Boulez
New York Philharmonic, Semyon Bychkov *
Gewandhausorchester, Riccardo Chailly (DVD/Blu-ray)
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Riccardo Chailly
MusicAeterna, Teodor Currentzis
Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Jonathan Darlington *
Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Andreas Delfs *
Cleveland Orchestra, Christoph von Dohnányi
Philadelphia Orchestra, Christoph Eschenbach (SACD)
London Symphony Orchestra, Harold Farberman *
Tchaikovsky Symphony of Moscow Radio, Vladimir Fedoseyev
Stuttgarter Philharmoniker, Gabriel Feltz
Budapest Festival Orchestra, Iván Fischer *
Dusseldorfer Symphoniker, Adam Fischer
Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Eduard Flipse *
Orchestre National De France, Daniele Gatti *
London Symphony Orchestra, Valery Gergiev (SACD)
World Orchestra for Peace, Valery Gergiev (DVD/Blu-ray)
SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, Michael Gielen
New York Philharmonic, Alan Gilbert *
La Monnaie Symphony Orchestra, Hartmut Haenchen (DVD)
Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Hartmut Haenchen *
Philharmonia Slavonica, Harmut Haenchen *
Berliner Philharmoniker, Bernard Haitink
Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Bernard Haitink
Concertgebouworkest, Bernard Haitink
Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Daniel Harding
Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, Raymond Harvey *
National Symphony Orchestra Taiwan, Gunther Herbig *
London Symphony Orchestra, Mariss Jansons *
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Mariss Jansons (SACD)
Symphonie-Orchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Mariss Jansons
NHK Symphony Orchestra, Paavo Järvi
Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Paavo Järvi (DVD/Blu-ray)
Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra, Vaclav Jiracek *
Berlin Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan
Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR, Kirill Kondrashin
Südwestfunk Orchestra Baden-Baden., Kirill Kondrashin
Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunk, Rafael Kubelik
Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Erich Leinsdorf
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Yoel Levi
Boston Symphony Orchestra, James Levine *
Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Fabio Luisi
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Lorin Maazel (DVD/Blu-ray)
New York Philharmonic, Lorin Maazel *
Philharmonia Orchestra, Lorin Maazel
Wiener Philharmoniker, Lorin Maazel *
Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Zubin Mehta
New York Philharmonic, Dimitri Mitropoulos
WDR Symphony Orchestra, Dimitri Mitropoulos *
Essener Philharmoniker, Tomá� Netopil
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Vaclav Neumann
Bamberger Symphoniker, Jonathan Nott (SACD)
Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa *
Orchestra dell’ Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Roma, Antonio Pappano *
Berliner Philharmoniker, Kirill Petrenko
Berliner Philharmoniker, Sir Simon Rattle
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle
Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Heinz Rögner *
SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden, Hans Rosbaud
Philharmonia Orchestra, Esa-Pekka Salonen
Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Jukka-Pekka Saraste
MDR Sinfonieorchester, Hermann Scherchen *
Philharmonia Orchestra, Giuseppe Sinopoli *
Radio Symphonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR, Giuseppe Sinopoli
Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Sir Georg Solti *
Gürzenich-Orchestra Köln, Markus Stenz (SACD)
Cleveland Orchestra, George Szell *
Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, Emil Tabakov *
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Klaus Tennstedt
San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Michael Tilson Thomas (SACD)
Minnesota Orchestra, Osmo Vänskä (SACD)
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Mark Wigglesworth *
Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Antoni Wit
Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Simone Young
Philharmonia Orchestra, Benjamin Zander *
Saarbrucken Radio Symphony Orchestra, Hans Zender *
Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, David Zinman *
Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Jaap van Zweden

(* = download only)

[Barbirollians]

Another relatively recent BAL back again. Surely, the only question is which Bernstein ES will choose?

[jayne lee wilson]

Another relatively recent BAL back again. Surely, the only question is which Bernstein ES will choose?

Oh, I think there is one question much more vexed than that .....

https://www.david-matthews.co.uk/writings/article.asp?articleid=76

[Pulcinella]

We can at least program(me) the movement order as we listen at home.
What about the hammer blows?

[Bryn]

We can at least program(me) the movement order as we listen at home.
What about the hammer blows?

Never mind the third hammer blow or the order of the middle movements, what about the first movement exposition repeat?

https://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php?topic=30910.0

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Another relatively recent BAL back again.

When was the last time?

[Ein Heldenleben]

Never mind the third hammer blow or the order of the middle movements, what about the first movement exposition repeat?

https://www.good-music-guide.com/com...?topic=30910.0

Interesting that. I had a look at the score and the few bars leading to the repeat are subtly different to the symphony opening in terms of dynamic so perhaps they recorded those and also the repeat only to find an error (not surprising given the complexity of the orchestration ) and didn’t have time to re-record or it emerged too late in the edit. Even though there would have been several people in the cubicle who might have heard a problem it always amazes me how many creep through.
To be honest I was more shocked when , on another thread , I learnt that the Rattle Mahler 2 had 150 edits in the first movement alone - taken from two different takes.

[Goon525]

Mahler 6 BaL, the very latest from Ladbrokes:-

NYPO LB. 4-6
VPO LB. Evens
Anyone else 150-1.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Mahler 6 BaL, the very latest from Ladbrokes:-

NYPO LB. 4-6
VPO LB. Evens
Anyone else 150-1.

The LB NYPO was the very first record I heard of this work so it’s etched into my brain. I would have no problem if Edward chooses this . But I wonder if the much rated Boulez might just get a look-in. My reasoning is this -if Edward merely confirms his reputation as a Lennie acolyte by selecting him (again) it makes it more and more difficult for him to be hired as a reviewer in this sort of repertoire .The right strategy would be to throw everyone off the scent and choose some one else. I also wonder if he’s across the Karajan repeat issue highlighted by Bryn? In short this appears to be a BAL of World Cup Final levels of interest.

[Barbirollians]

When was the last time?

Feb 2013 remarkably on page 5 of this forum .

[richardfinegold]

Mahler 6 BaL, the very latest from Ladbrokes:-

NYPO LB. 4-6
VPO LB. Evens
Anyone else 150-1.

I wonder if Seckerson feels any pressure to pick a non LB. My favorite is Von Karajan, both the commercial recording and a live version that I have from the time of the recording, which adds a dollop of tension and drama. The strings in the Andante are a force of nature

[Bryn]

. . . I also wonder if he’s across the Karajan repeat issue highlighted by Bryn? . . .

As it happens. I chanced upon that link while searching for comments about Mackerras omitting the repeat in his recording with the BBCPO, issued on a BBC Music Magazine disc, much discussed here. Who knew that Karajan was such a cheat? That said, I am tempted to have a go at finessing a fake repeat re the Mackerras.

[smittims]

'Cut-and-paste' repeats are not so rare, sadly, as we might think. When listening to the third movement of the'Jupiter' symphony (the famous minuetto allegretto) in the VPO/Levine recording, I heard what sounded lie a door being slammed at the far end of a long corridor. I thought I'd heard it before, and sure enough, it sounds at exactly the same moment each time that passage is heard.

That whole set of the Mozart Symphonies is notably generous in its inclusion of repeats, and while it's always a pleasure to hear the Vienna Phil play Mozart I did feel that a reapeat shouldn't be exactly the same; at least, that's the ways I was bought up. I haven't gotten round to checking the other symphonies in the box.

[silvestrione]

I wonder if Seckerson feels any pressure to pick a non LB. My favorite is Von Karajan, both the commercial recording and a live version that I have from the time of the recording, which adds a dollop of tension and drama. The strings in the Andante are a force of nature

Is that live one a private recording?

[Pulcinella]

Interesting that. I had a look at the score and the few bars leading to the repeat are subtly different to the symphony opening in terms of dynamic so perhaps they recorded those and also the repeat only to find an error (not surprising given the complexity of the orchestration ) and didn’t have time to re-record or it emerged too late in the edit. Even though there would have been several people in the cubicle who might have heard a problem it always amazes me how many creep through.
To be honest I was more shocked when , on another thread , I learnt that the Rattle Mahler 2 had 150 edits in the first movement alone - taken from two different takes.

And orchestration: no woodwind in the first time only bars (in my Dover edition, the five bars before figure 14).
In fact, there must be a mistake in that score, in that the woodwind surely don't play the first quaver in the first of the repeated bars if the repeat is done (figure 1 in the score).