Oh dear, disapointed to hear this! Thank you for your opinion/warning! Yes, S-A is definitely the correct ordering of movements!
So which are your top 10 Mahler 6ths? My favourites are Solti, Bernstein (DG), Abbado etc...
Without revising much (or filtering out obscure ones, like the Duisburg performance):
"Rough"
Benjamin Zander, Philharmonia Orchestra, Telarc
Pierre Boulez, Wiener Philharmoniker, DG
Jonathan Darlington, Duisburger Philharmoinker, Acousence
John Barbirolli, New Philharmonia Orchestra, EMI
Mitropoulos, WDRSO, Greatest Conductors of the 20th Century / Urania
Michael Gielen, SWRSO, Hänssler
Christoph Eschenbach, Philadelphia Orchestra, Ondine
“Beauty”
Iván Fischer, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Channel Classics
Herbert von Karajan, Berliner Philharmoniker, DG
Simon Rattle, City of Birmingham Orchestra, EMI
Rafael Kubelik, BRSO, Audite
-
I shouldn't forget Solti, of all people, to whose Sixth Sarge has opened my ears and gotten me beyond my admitted anti-Solti bias in Mahler.
I'm a little surprised to find Rattle in this list, but I was sober when I compiled it and deeply immersed, so it must be true. :-)
http://www.weta.org/oldfmblog/?p=1307