Next Thursday March 5th at 7.30pm, La Filarmónica Concert Society will present at the Auditorio Nacional de Música de Madrid the Symphony No. 1 Titan, by Gustav Mahler.
The premiere in 1889 of this symphony disconcerted the audience of Budapest, who did not receive the work with enthusiasm. Mahler worked on the score, modifying and adjusting motifs, to the point of eliminating the second movement, an Andante-shaped serenade, called Blumine. For many years this piece was considered lost until, in 1959 and by chance, it was rediscovered. Since then, some conductors have incorporated the Blumine again into the symphony. Among them, Teodor Currentzis who makes his debut in this concert. The passage of time has made Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 one of the essential works of the repertoire, claimed -in the words of conductor Bruno Walter- as a victory over life. The programme is completed by Strauss’ Death and Transfiguration, op. 24.