New Zealand Herald Premier Series: Mahler 6: CANCELLED

Conductor - Antony Hermus

Mahler - Symphony No.6

Spacious yet taut, passionate yet terrifying, open-hearted yet bleak: Mahler’s titanic Sixth Symphony is a whole world. It begins with an implacable drumbeat for the entire orchestra and it ends with brutal blows of fate, ‘the last of which fells the hero as a tree is felled’, to quote its composer.

The piece isn’t solely tragic, though. Mahler gives us music of blissful reveries, of peaceful alpine meadows, of ardent love. In every way this is a tremendous piece. Hearing it is always an overwhelming emotional experience.

Presented in collaboration with the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM).