This Sixth is the symphony with the hammer: with three enormous blows (of which Mahler, incidentally, for probably superstitious reasons, dropped another one), the percussion tools put a stop to the swirling finale, in which bitter sarcasm and breathtaking lyricism alternate. In the Mahler-Forschung these strokes led to ominous interpretations: they were said to be the harbingers of future setbacks:
Mahler's dismissal from the Vienna opera, the death of his four-year-old daughter Maria and the diagnosis of a heart condition. And then the question of order: according to Mahler's original design, the mechanical Scherzo followed directly after the marching opening movement. The same order was maintained in the printed score. However, there is some evidence that Mahler was unhappy with this sequence. Perhaps this dissatisfaction has to do with the aggressive nature of the two parts, as a result of which the music passes you by stamping and thumping for the first half hour. After the first part, the audience gets the chance to catch their breath on this CD with the mild Andante moderato. Mahler probably performed the symphony in the same way at its 1906 premiere. (HJ)more
