Programme
Mahler : Symphony No 1 in D major, Titan
- Langsam. Schleppend. Wie ein Naturlaut - Immer sehr gemächlich
- Kräftig bewegt, doch nicht zu schnell - - Trio: Recht gemächlich - Tempo primo
- Feierlich und gemessen, ohne zu schleppen
- Stürmisch bewegt

Performers
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Bernard Haitink (conductor)

The symphonies of Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) were bigger, bolder, darker and more epic than anything before. Audience reactions after the 1889 premiere of the mighty Symphony No 1, nicknamed the Titan, were typical: "a mixture of furious disapproval and wildest applause", said Mahler in a letter to a friend. "It is amusing to hear the clash of opinions in the street and in drawing-rooms... [but] orchestra retrospectively extremely satisfied with symphony as result of barrel of free beer."

Notorious for its bitter minor-key distortion of Frère Jacques - a typically Mahlerian (ab)use of recognisable melodies, the work aptly demonstrates the composer's oft-quoted desire to express a world of emotion in a symphony.