More Mahler 6th Mania . . .

Two comments/observations...

This amazing piece of art expresses, reflects, "fleshes out and tells the story", with startling depth, vision, sensitivity, and power, the cultural spiritual tragedy that erupted into two world wars during the decades which followed. Forget the myriad of biographical, autobiographical, and/or psychological ruminations about the composer. They mostly do not inform and often mislead, except this: that the artist was very happy, relaxed, and at the height of his artistic powers, allowed him to create and to reflect (the world) with little to no compromise. The vision and understanding is clear and contains (but not exclusively) great devastation. Its realization into symphonic form is a triumph of courage. It is not "pessimistic" or "resigned" or a "portrait of a fallen hero", it is an honest reflection of reality, magnificently projected, by an artist willing and able to express it.

Sparing a lugubrious explanation, if you have access to the recordings, try this: play the 1980, DGG, Abado (Chicago) recording of Mvt. I (Allegro Enegico) only, followed by Mvts. III (Andante Moderato) and IV (Finale) by Bernstein, DGG, 1988 (Vienna); exclude the Scherzo. If you must hear the Scherzo, play it first as a Preclude, take a 10-minute break, and then begin the symphony.

This is a true epic, composed for a a gigantic, original instrument, by an artist of the highest magnitude.