Great Sixths
Note: This is part six of a continuing review of the greatest symphonies in western classical music. When it comes to Great Sixth symphonies I must depart from my usual course of noting five worthy symphonic compositions and crowning one as the best of all. The quality of the Sixths blogged about here is such that the field of competition is considerably tighter and smaller. There are only three Great Sixths worthy of consideration. Placing any others in the companionship with these great works of art would be a slight to those selected. The Sixths of Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, and Mahler far surpass any other consideration for this numerical category. Moreover, any one of these Great Sixths could be considered the best of all. It is literally a three-way tie in my mind. So, let’s take them in chronological order with Beethoven being the oldest, composed in 1808 . This was one of Beethoven’s few “program” symphonies, following a specific theme and was subtitled “Recollection of Country L