Mahler Project
"The cathartic power of music—to howl, to grieve, and ultimately to console—has never seemed so miraculous."
—San Francisco Chronicle
Mahler’s Symphony No. 6
Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance (2002)
Mahler’s Symphony No. 6 is sometimes called the "Tragic" symphony. It shows Mahler at his most devastating, and many think of this music, first heard in 1906, as a prophecy of the horrors of the century to come. This recording was made at the SFS concerts of September 12-15, 2001, immediately following the events of September 11 and captures a passionate response to that day.
This was the first recording by SFS and MTT in the complete Mahler Symphony cycle. Each of Mahler's nine symphonies is a drama, and Michael Tilson Thomas is among the foremost interpreters of these episodes.
Press Quotes
"The classical Grammys played it safe and proved a popularity contest, stars and standard repertory beating anything up to date or innovative. Michael Tilson Thomas' frighteningly intense performance of Mahler's Sixth Symphony with the San Francisco Symphony is the only real standout among the winners."
—Los Angeles Times
"This recording of Mahler's Sixth Symphony was made from performances planned long before the events of September 11 gave the San Francisco Symphony's choice of repertory extraordinary resonance. Certainly a more impressive start to Tilson Thomas and the SFS's Mahler cycle is difficult to imagine. Less manned than Bernstein, and more emotionally engaged than Karajan, this is an exceptionally intense and, under the circumstances, remarkably coherent performance that is not to be missed."
—Gramophone
"Whatever disorienting thoughts passed through the heads of these players and their conductor in the concerts of 12-15 September 2001—and a finale in which two cataclysmic hammer-blows strike within minutes could not have been an easy movement to face—they kept their heads and came up with one of the most awe-inspiringly controlled interpretations this work can ever have received... this has to be among the finest Mahler recordings ever made."
—BBC Music Magazine
"..[T]here is no question that this is a bold and uncompromising account of the work. Thomas' interpretive approach, sympathetic yet dry-eyed, mines the music's most pitiless strains (even the lyricism of the slow movement has a touch of brisk regret), and the orchestral playing is first-rate."
—San Francisco Chronicle
Release Date: February 5, 2002
BIN: 821936-0001-2-0