Mahler: Symphony No. 1 in D Major "Titan"

Following their acclaimed recordings of the complete Beethoven and Sibelius symphonies for the BIS label, the Minnesota Orchestra and Osmo Vänskä continue their Mahler cycle with his First Symphony. Known as the 'Titan', this symphony was written in 1887-1888, with many later revisions. Deeply inspired by nature, it features a boisterous German folk dance in place of a minuet, and a funeral march based on the nursery rhyme 'Frère Jacques' for a slow movement.

Featuring

Osmo Vänskä
Minnesota Orchestra
Gustav Mahler

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Performer Biography

The Minnesota Orchestra, founded in 1903, was the first American orchestra to perform in Cuba in 2015 and the first professional US orchestra to tour South Africa in 2018.

Performer Biography

Osmo Vänskä, the Finnish conductor, has been the Minnesota Orchestra's music director since 2003 and won a Grammy Award in 2014 for their recording of Sibelius's First and Fourth Symphonies.

Compositional Technique

The musical keystone of Mahler's First Symphony is the simple interval of a fourth, which pervades each movement in alternately enigmatic, rustic, mournful, and triumphant melodic shapes.

Recording & Production

This Hybrid SACD recording can be played in Stereo (CD and SACD) and in 5.0 Surround sound (SACD), aiming to reproduce the natural sound of a concert venue.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Mahler believed the symphony's purpose was to express the 'world-in-microcosm' as an all-embracing art form.

Critical Reception

Mahler initially presented his First Symphony under various programmatic titles, including 'Symphonic Poem in Two Parts' and 'TITAN, a Tone Poem in Symphonic Form,' due to his sensitivity to audience preconceptions about musical meaning.

Composition History

Mahler's First Symphony borrows extensively from his 1884 song cycle, Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Wayfarer), which was inspired by his passionate affair with operatic soprano Johanna Richter.