Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 6 in A minor ‘Tragic’

In garish tones and with the largest orchestral apparatus he has ever used, Mahler presents us with his Sixth Symphony a work full of extremes between the sweet cantabile melt in the main theme of the Andante and the chord clusters breaking out “with raw power” in the triple forte in the centre of the final performance. After wave-like upswings to highest bliss everything sinks into the final catastrophe.

The penultimate release in the Mahler SACD cycle, OehmsClassics presents a live recording from the Kölner Philharmonie in November 2013. (OehmsClassics)