Mahler: Symphony No. 6 - Lucerne Festival Orchestra & Claudio Abbado / A Performance at Lucerne Festival in Summer 2006 / Recorded live at the Concert Hall of the Culture and Convention Centre Lucerne, 10 August 2006 / Blu-Ray

Format: NTSC

Run time: 89 Minutes

UPC: 880242556448

• Aspect Ratio ‏ : ‎ 1.78:1
• MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ Unrated (Not Rated)
• Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 0.39 x 5.31 x 6.77 inches; 3.53 Ounces
• Director ‏ : ‎ Michael Bayer
• Media Format ‏ : ‎ NTSC, Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, Widescreen, Classical, Surround Sound
• Run time ‏ : ‎ 1 hour and 29 minutes
• Release date ‏ : ‎ September 28, 2010
• Actors ‏ : ‎ Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Claudio Abbado
• Subtitles: ‏ : ‎ German, English, French, Spanish, Italian
• Studio ‏ : ‎ EuroArts
• Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1

Mahler's Sixth Symphony is a great way to see the benefits of Blu-ray technology. The crystal-clear picture and enhanced sound are best shown off by a work like this. You'll hear sounds you never heard, coming from each speaker. I started to point out how well you can hear individual instruments that Mahler's 6th allows "cameo solos," like the xylophone, tuba, timpani, harps, cymbals, French horn, and of course the cowbells and giant wooden block and hammer. But then I noticed that all the horns and strings and woodwinds seemed to be getting cameos too. This is such an unusual work that each instrument seems to get a chance to shine, and the Blu-ray technology enabled this beautifully.

Be sure your neighbors are away if you turn up the volume. Not only will you hear the distant cowbells, but the drums will threaten to shake the walls and floors. My two little fox terriers left the room with their tails down--and they usually like Mahler!

Don't let the subtitle "Tragic" make you think less of this Mahler symphony. Many Mahler enthusiasts agree that it is "tragic" only in the sense that, despite all our successes, sufferings and trials in life, mortality will claim us in the end.

Abbado and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra do it again, turning in the best performance of Mahler's Sixth since Leonard Bernstein did it decades ago. For those familiar with Mahler's Sixth, yes, this includes two devastating hammerblows with a large wooden mallet and a resonating wooden box--finally these are hammerblows approaching the huge mallet used by Leonard Bernstein. I could rave on about how clearly you can see and hear each instrument as it plays its part in this giant symphony, but you can see it for yourself. The editors and photographers have done their work well in directing us to each performer as his instrument carries the theme.

You don't need my word for it. Watch it, and you'll see the delight in the faces of the timpanist, Raymond Curfs or flautist, Jacques Zoon. Their joy at participating in such a magnificent work is not something they can hide.

Again, the Blu-ray Mahler's sixth seems to help each instrument have its moment in the spotlight. It's like having dozens of brilliant solo instruments telling a story in their own words, in concert. That's what a "symphony" is all about, and no one does it better than Gustav Mahler!