Mahler

Mahler touches the heart’s deepest, most tumultuous emotions in his Sixth Symphony. His opening movement includes a rapturous musical portrait of his wife, Alma. But the work's devastating conclusion is eerie and agitated. The original finale surges up three times, stopped in each case by a tremendous hammer stroke, presaging tragedies in Mahler’s life: the loss of his Vienna State Opera position, the death of his daughter, and the diagnosis of a heart condition that would prove fatal. Superstitious, Mahler eventually removed the third stroke, but his symphony remains one of his most powerful creations.