A tough nut, one that our critics’ feeble little teeth cannot crack. This is how Mahler introduced his Sixth Symphony, his darkest work, which he aptly named 'Tragic'. It stands as one of his greatest masterpieces; the product of tremendous effort. The meaning of the three blows struck by an immense hammer, coupled with sounds of cowbells in the orchestra, has sparked much discussion. They symbolise both the inevitability of fate and a being in search of solitude rising above the noise of the world. Although his statement is bleak, Mahler doesn’t stop there. After this profound realisation, he gets back up and, like his music, he goes on. It is his most personal and prophetic work, anticipating the tragedies that he and the world will once again have to bear, just one decade before the onset of the Great War.