Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 6 in A minor ‘Tragic’ – LPO & Klaus Tennstedt

Mahler once remarked to Sibelius “a symphony must be like the world, it must embrace everything.” His Sixth Symphony is a salient and personal statement, containing musical depictions of his wife and children. It reaches a tragic conclusion in the Finale representing “the hero, on whom fall three blows of fate, the last of which fells him as a tree is felled.” Klaus Tennstedt’s interpretations of Mahler during his celebrated partnership with the London Philharmonic Orchestra bear testimony to the way Mahler composed his life. This is both an extrovert and expansive reading of Mahler 6, resulting in an engrossing recording. Extrovert from the perspective that it is a performance of extremes. In the first movement the slow tempi are particularly slow, but despite the exaggerated ritardandos the Orchestra sustains Tennstedt’s wants beautifully, never allowing the tension to stall.

Press acclaim from Tennstedt conducting Mahler 6:

‘[The] BBC proms audience stood motionless through the ninety minutes of Tennstedt’s 6th, petrified by its intensity.’ Norman Lebrecht in Maestros, Masterpieces and Madness on this 1983 performance.

‘The attraction in both cases was Mahler’s 6th Symphony, the most challenging and most problematic of the set, its champions the London Philharmonic Orchestra, its interpreter, Klaus Tennstedt…. Here was a performance to revere and to remember, historic even, and if it has not already been recorded, it ought to be.’ Evening Standard, November 1991 (RFH performance)