Mahler at the San Diego Symphony

Mahler Symphony No. 6 is a gargantuan piece of music and we have a chance to hear it at Symphony Hall this Friday and Saturday, April 29 and 30. There is no Sunday concert. However, there is a Sunday afternoon concert at The La Jolla Symphony.

Mahler’s Sixth has become known as The Tragic but the moniker wasn’t his. His early symphonies had programmatic and grandiose titles such as The Titan and The Resurrection. To his credit, he gave up the desire to be understood and just gave his symphonies numbers.

He is supposed have stated that the time would come when his music would separate itself from the chaff — the chaff was Richard Strauss — that has come true to a certain degree but Mahler is still an acquired taste. Those who have acquired the taste should be smacking their lips at the thought of the San Diego Symphony performing the Sixth.

Mahler did say that, “A symphony must be like the world. It must contain everything.” We can watch Mahler continue to try to contain everything as he progressed through his symphonies. My feeling is that the Sixth and the Ninth come the closest to capturing the universe.

The Eighth is too obvious. The Fifth is too schizophrenic. The Seventh gets close in the nocturnal sections. I count 1–4 as Mahler figuring out how he wants to proceed. The Second was the greatest thing I’d heard as a 21-year-old, but it hasn’t stuck around in the same way that Bruckner’s Seventh and Eighth have. Mahler is the chaff in that mill.

I’m still excited to hear Mahler this weekend. The Sixth is one of those pieces that makes such an impression that you never forget the first time you heard it.