Concert Review: Hammer of the Gods

Semyon Bychkov conducts Mahler's Sixth.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The Mahler Sixth meets its maker at the New York Philharmonic.
L.-R. Kyle Zerna (with gong) Daniel Druckman (with hammer), Markus Rhoten (with timpani mallets)
and Christopher Lamb with cymbals. Photo by Chris Lee © 2016 The New York Philharmonic.

When the New York Philharmonic plays the symphonies of Gustav Mahler, it is always a meaningful experience. On Tuesday night, the orchestra that that Mahler himself once led gave the fourth and final performance this season of the composer's Symphony No. 6 in A minor at Avery Fisher Hall. Lasting an hour and a half and requiring enormous orchestral forces, this symphony stands out among the composer's works for its relentless, military character and dark ending, in which the music's quest to escape its dark home key is (quite literally) stopped in its tracks.