# Mahler's 6th - Final Movement



## juliante (Jun 7, 2013)

Dear TC 

I love the first 3 movements of Mahler’s 6th, but despite trying an reading and trying again I am still struggling with the last movement. To no particular end, I am interested in what other people’s experience is. 

Do you find the last movement of Mahler’s 6th:


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## Dim7 (Apr 24, 2009)

Mahler's 6th is really the only Mahler Symphony where I find all the movements really solid and worth listening. The Scherzo though is dramatically a bit redundant, being so similar in character with the first movement, and also a cause of all the movement order dilemmas, however for a Scherzo it is pretty good.


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## Guest (Sep 27, 2017)

I'd say "Problematic, compromising an otherwise good symphony."

I really like some parts of it, but it's a bit bombastic in places and having to endure that galloping three times round is a bit much. The "programme" is distracting too.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

It has haunted me ever since I first heard it in Symphony Hall with the BSO in the mid-60s.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

The finale is one of those rare pieces that no matter how many times I've heard it, it still startles me. At the end when everything has died down - then WHAM! Get's me every time. The 6th is a curious work, though. Mahler apparently couldn't make up his mind about the order of the two inner movements. And it's funny how when it's given Andante-Scherzo that my response to the finale changes. My favorite Mahler 6th performance has to be in Tucson a number of years ago when the conductor played the original finale, with all three hammer strokes - thrilling to say the least.


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

mbhaub said:


> The finale is one of those rare pieces that no matter how many times I've heard it, it still startles me. At the end when everything has died down - then WHAM! Get's me every time. The 6th is a curious work, though. Mahler apparently couldn't make up his mind about the order of the two inner movements. *And it's funny how when it's given Andante-Scherzo that my response to the finale changes. *My favorite Mahler 6th performance has to be in Tucson a number of years ago when the conductor played the original finale, with all three hammer strokes - thrilling to say the least.


In what way does it change? Oh, and although I don't want to start this controversy again, from the dress rehearsal for the premiere on, Mahler had made a firm and final decision about the order of the movements. The confusion came after he was dead. I think the finale works well.


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## Totenfeier (Mar 11, 2016)

I think it has to be what it is to get where it is going. 

Life's a bitch. You're born; you grow and learn. You struggle; you maybe fail; you maybe get a little success. You have endless dark nights and days filled with joy. Sometimes life is so damn "daily" than you groan just getting up in the morning to do it all over again. You press on, doing the best you can with what you have. You play the hand you're dealt.

Then, you get cancer and die. Or you are hit head-on by a tractor-trailer, and you die. Or you're shot by a mass murderer, and you die.

Cue up the WHAM!


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## Pesaro (Oct 4, 2017)

MacLeod said:


> I'd say "Problematic, compromising an otherwise good symphony."
> 
> I really like some parts of it, but it's a bit bombastic in places and having to endure that galloping three times round is a bit much. The "programme" is distracting too.


With the exception of Mahler 4, I think all of the Mahler symphonies are a little problematic. It is part of their incredible greatness, IMO.


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## maestro267 (Jul 25, 2009)

One of Mahler's finest creations, along with every other movement of every other symphony he wrote. He wrote nothing but fine creations.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I didn't pay much attention to the 6th until I got the score last week and marked it up. Now I think it's great.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

Mahler's final movements in his middle symphonies (5, 6, 7) all sound like he struggled hard and can be quite hard work to listen to. All too often they sound to me like there is more thinking than inspiration and quite a number of otherwise excellent performances can die for me in the finale. But there are performances where the flow can sound natural and the inspiration shines through. Bernstein with the VPO is one such recording of the 6th (it is a grim reading, though).


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## jdec (Mar 23, 2013)

One of Mahler's finest creations. I was awestruck by it since the first time I really "got it".


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## KJ von NNJ (Oct 13, 2017)

Richard Strauss was at the premier with Mahler conducting. Mahler, valuing Strauss's opinion, asked RS what he thought of the work. Strauss told Mahler that he thought the final movement was over-orchestrated. This CRUSHED Mahler, who then proceded to pare down the orchestration of the final movement of the 6th. What we hear today is that same paring down. 
What do I think of the 6th's final movement? It is a frenzied, desperate attempt to save a doomed individual. I think of Siegfried in Gotterdammerung.
A good example and an obvious influence in Mahler's Tragic Symphony. It is also autobiographical. Mahler described it as the slings and arrows he had to endure to get to this point in his life. 
Mahler was a wreck while he waited in the dressing room before going to the podium to conduct the premier. He paced...near tears. What would they think? There was no happy ending. I think this symphony hit Mahler right in his heart. It was that close to his psyche. The final movement proved prophetic. So, in hindsight, it is greater than anyone could have imagined it to be. I describe it as controlled mayhem leading to inevitable annihilation. And he still found room for sheer beauty and noble utterance.
It is a masterpiece.


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