NHK Symphony Orchestra & Paavo Järvi - Mahler: Symphony No. 6 "Tragic" (2020) [Hi-Res]

It was Stravinsky who first brought international attention to Takemitsu’s music after he came across a recording of the Requiem on a visit to Japan in 1959. Its slow, yearning melodies lead into Mahler’s monumental ‘Tragic’ Symphony, known for the three sledgehammer blows in its final movement, which represent the blows of fate. The most traditional of Mahler’s symphonies, it draws listeners into its bleak yet irresistible momentum.

The Tokyo-based NHK Symphony Orchestra can trace its origins to 1926. With a change of name, it has been supported since 1951 by Nippon Hoso Kyokai (the Japan Broadcasting Corporation) and was out in full force for Maher 6 – of the 114 musicians listed all appear to be indigenous – and beforehand it was the strings that introduced Requiem (1957) by Tokyo-born Toru Takemitsu (1930-96). Short Requiem may be (just under ten minutes), but from the barest of sounds something solemn and emotionally agitated emerges, always exquisitely composed and somewhat Bartókian in expression. Whether refined or when becoming more angular, whatever was required, the NHK players, with chief conductor Paavo Järvi, had every expressive phrase and nuance mastered, not least concertmaster Fuminori Maro Shinozaki, whose solo contributions were ineffably divine (as they would also be in the Mahler).

NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo
Paavo Järvi, conductor

Recorded: February 22 & 23, 2017, Minato Mirai Hall, Yokohama (Live Recording at NHK Symphony Orchestra Special Concert in Yokohama)