The Hallé’s season finale – Kahchun Wong conducts Mahler’s Sixth

Humanity’s frailty and fortitude combine in Mahler’s existential Sixth Symphony, as Kahchun Wong conducts.

Composed during some of the happiest times of Mahler’s life – his wife, Alma, the subject of the intensely emotive Adagietto of his Fifth Symphony, had just given birth to their second child – it seems an odd juxtaposition, then, that his Sixth Symphony is often subtitled ‘The Tragic’.

While certainly filled with brooding, nihilistic undertones, the symphony also possesses moving tributes to the composer’s greatest loves. The soaring melodies of the first movement represent Alma, and the playful, scurrying Scherzo of the third movement represents his two toddler daughters. Kahchun Wong’s affinity with Mahler’s work is world-renowned and this promises to be a very special season finale.

Kahchun Wong conductor

Mahler Symphony No.6