Mahler: Symphony No. 1 in D major 'Titan'

This is the first release of a complete concert performed on 8th April 1939, of Wagner’s Faust Overture, Siegfried Idyll and Mahler’s Symphony No. 1. Bruno Walter was Mahler’s protégé and heard Mahler himself perform and conduct the symphony. A must for admirers of this conductor and in excellent sound.

This Hybrid SACD features a recording of Mahler’s First Symphony in D Major, (sometimes referred to as the “Titan”). It was made at the inaugural concert in September 2008 of the highly-regarded Austrian conductor Manfred Honeck as Music Director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.

Gustav Mahler composed his Symphony No. 1 in D major between 1884 and 1888, but made significant revisions to the work during 1894. It was premiered in Budapest in 1889, where it was presented as a five-movement piece under the title "Symphonische Dichtung in zwei Teilen" (symphonic poem in two parts). In subsequent performances the piece was presented as "Titan," eine Tondichtung in Symphonie-form (a tone poem in the form of a symphony). “Titan” refers to the book of the same name by the German writer Jean Paul. After further revisions, however, Mahler dropped the title, the descriptive movement titles, and the Andante second movement, called "Blumine".

The Austrian conductor Manfred Honeck began his career as conductor of Vienna's Jeunesse Orchestra, which he co-founded, and as assistant to Claudio Abbado at the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra in Vienna. Since September 2008 he has been Principal Guest Conductor of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in Prague. After several highly successful guest appearances with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, he was appointed its ninth Music Director in 2008.

Andrés Orozco-Estrada was born in Colombia, began his musical education in his native country and then studied in Vienna. He stood in at a concert in the Vienna Festival in 2004 and the newspaper Der Standard called him “The wonder of Vienna”. He was appointed as Music Director of this orchestra in 2009 and is also principal conductor of the Basque National Orchestra.

With an impressively wide-ranging concert repertoire spanning works from baroque through to contemporary, Christine Schafer enjoys a flourishing concert career with regular appearances on the major concert stages of Europe and America. The Germany Symphony Berlin is generally regarded as a great exponent of German orchestra culture due to its specific and versatile sound.

“It has turned out to be so overwhelming – as though it flowed out of me like a mountain stream”. After four years of work Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) was euphoric when he completed his first symphony in 1888. In this special year, celebrating the 150th anniversary of his birth, Coviello are proud to present this dynamic ‘live’ recording of the Titan symphony.

The Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, alongside its illustrious Dutch counterpart The Concertgebouw Amsterdam, has a long tradition of Mahlerian performance. It is here led by its artistic director Willem de Vriend, in a recording of the 1893 “Hamburg” version of Mahler’s first symphony. This version bears the title Symphonic Poem in Two Parts, “Titan”, and includes the later discarded “Blumlein” movement. Jan Willem de Vriend is the artistic director of Combattimento Consort Amsterdam, the highly-rated early music group, and since 2006 the chief conductor and artistic director of the Dutch Symphony Orchestra. The DSO has taken a major role on the Netherlands’ musical scene, it has been involved in premieres of works by Offenbach, Say and Mahler, and by substituting historical instruments in the brass section, it has developed its own distinctive sound in the 18th and 19th century repertoire. Recently orchestra and conductor have embarked on a series of recordings of Beethoven’s complete symphonies.

The first performance of the Symphonic Poem in Two Parts, later his First Symphony, was conducted by Mahler in Budapest on 20 November 1889, and received a cool if not hostile reception. This new recording is of the restored 1893 “Hamburg” version, and is made up of two parts and five movements. Part one, called “From the Days of Youth” contains the first three movements, with the later discarded “Blumlein” movement sandwiched between the first and the Scherzo, and Part two, “The Human Comedy”, consists of the Funeral March and the fifth movement, Finale: From Inferno to Paradise.

+2010 catalogue 84 pages

The Mahler 1 broadcast from 1990 has never appeared before and represents Tennstedt's mature interpretation caught in brilliant stereo from the Royal Festival Hall recorded by the celebrated BBC producer Misha Donat.

Glinka's Ruslan & Ludmilla Overture is a new addition to the Tennstedt discography from the 1981 Edinburgh Festival

The CD is completed with a rare Tennstedt interview with the esteemed writer and broadcaster, John Amis, who discusses Mahler with the conductor.

Tennstedt's Mahler 7 (BBCL42242) has been an international best seller.

During the last sixteen years of his life, Sir John Barbirolli devoted himself to the music of Gustav Mahler almost as assiduously as he did to that of Elgar. He conducted the symphonies, except the Eighth and the Cooke performing version of the Tenth, not only in Britain but in America, Germany, Austria, Russia, Italy and elsewhere. He recorded only four commercially, but fortunately his performances of Nos. 2, 3, 4 and 7 have survived and have been issued on CD. This recording of the First Symphony was made for Pye in the Free Trade Hall, Manchester in June 1957 – issued in stereo for the first time. He first conducted the First Symphony in Manchester in November 1955. Michael Kennedy remembers the occasion well because it was an outstanding example of JB’s“I’ll show ‘em” style. The story is well known of the bad blood which existed between him and Sir Thomas Beecham after Beecham’s disgraceful written attempts to undermine him in New York in 1936. As a result, JB refused to sanction an invitation to Beecham to guest conduct the Hallé after 1943. But in 1955 he relented enough to allow Beecham to bring his own Royal Philharmonic Orchestra to Manchester to give two concerts in the Hallé series. It was a memorable programme ending with Tchaikovsky’s Manfred Symphony. The critics wrote glowing notices. So when a fortnight later the Hallé played in the hall, the atmosphere of gladiatorial contest was unavoidable. This was meat and drink to JB and the performance of the Mahler symphony was geared to eclipse memories of Beecham! The audience were the winners: they heard two magnificent performances by two great orchestras under two great conductors. Who cared which was “the better”, if indeed such a judgement could reasonably have been made?