NYPHIL Rehearse MAHLER's Symph #6-Semyon Bychkov Conducting

We were told at the onset of the rehearsal of Mahler's Symph #6 that the piece would be rehearsed only in certain parts.  We were invited to "come back to hear it in it's entirety."  The official program noted "This concert will be performed without intermission."   The rehearsal was fragmented & consisted of frequent stops by Condcutor Bychkov (b. Russia 1952.)   The conductor gave copious comments to vaying sections of the orchestra.  Bychkov won the Rachmaninoff Condcuting Competition at 20 but was barred from its prize of conducting the Leningrad Philharmonic due to anti-semetic sentiments and he left his country shortly thereafter.  He returned to Russia in 1989 & became the Philharmonic's guest conductor.  In 2015, Bychkov was named Conductor of the Year by the Int'l Opera Awards. The respites in today's rehearsal was marked by major shifs in sheet music.  I used the uncertain fits & starts to put my own interpretive spin on the various sections. The onset was the Allegro played with powerful orchestration resounding of militiary battles.  After a short lull, the orchestra played a fragment that felt heavy & mercurial as though a storm were brewing.   Mahler's composition utilized 3 harps, several snare drums & tubas.  A lot of emphasis was on the wind section; relying in large part on oboes and bass clarinets.   The andante movement was performed with a somber, mournful feeling.  Again, the orchestration relied heavily on the woodwinds v. the string section.  The overall tonal quality was a deep, low sound.  Mahler's 6th Symphony is a composition of genius and strength.  Nevertheless, it drains my enthiusiasm & dampens my mood.  I will not be returning to hear Mahler's composition performed with all 4 movements.