Season Finale: Mahler’s Symphony No. 1

Pre-Concert Chat at 5:45 PM
Lawn Paver Bar

Gustav Mahler

Symphony No. 1 in D Major, “Titan”

The Festival’s Summer Season concludes with Mahler’s first symphony, whose monumental score demanded the largest orchestra ever assembled at the time. An epic narrative of struggle and triumph, it opens with the sounds of nature awakening, moves through dances, folk tunes, and a funeral march that twists “Frère Jacques” into something of a parody, and in the final movement pulls the audience into a heroic journey from despair to a glorious triumph. Watch out for some of Mahler’s tricks along the way–just when you think you might have arrived in heaven, things crash down only to begin the journey all over again!

Alasdair’s take on the program:

Mahler’s first symphony is a staggeringly original first foray into the genre, and it still packs an enormous punch nearly 140 years after its conception.