The 'Blumine' movement, originally part of Mahler's incidental music for a staging of Joseph Victor von Scheffel's Der Trompeter von Säkkingen, was omitted from the final version of the symphony and only recovered in 1959.
Critical Reception
Mahler's First Symphony was initially met with indifference, bewilderment, and even hatred at its 1889 premiere in Budapest.
Compositional Technique
Mahler's First Symphony incorporates diverse sources, including his song cycle Songs of a Wayfarer, incidental music, a children's round, an early 19th-century woodcut, and a song he composed in 1880.
Performer Biography
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra has won 58 Grammy Awards, more than any other orchestra in the world, and launched its own in-house recording label, CSO Resound, in 2007.
Performer Biography
Bernard Haitink, the conductor, was music director of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam for 25 years and is conductor emeritus of the Boston Symphony and an honorary member of the Berlin Philharmonic.
Composition History
Mahler struggled for 15 years with his First Symphony, unable to decide if it was a symphonic poem or program symphony, or whether it should have four or five movements.
Interpretation
On this recording, the famous 'Frère Jacques' theme is played by the entire muted double bass section, a reinterpretation of Mahler's intentions which were often compromised due to orchestral limitations.
