Symphony No. 1 in D Major

Mahler’s First Symphony took a while to reach its final form. When it first appeared, in 1889, it was designated as a “symphonic poem”, with the title Titan, directly invoking the once hugely popular novel by 19th-century writer “Jean Paul” (Johann Paul Richter). It was in five movements, and came with an elaborate literary programme, relating it both to the novel’s “heaven-storming” protagonist and to a doomed love affair—with hints that Mahler himself was the real hero of both stories. But Mahler grew disillusioned with programmes, at the same time deciding that the symphony’s structure was better without the original second movement. He also revised and enlarged the orchestration, drawing on his experience as an opera conductor. The result is a work which is definitely a symphony, but not in the abstract vein of his older contemporary, Brahms. The music clearly tells some kind of story, narrated with passion and a flair for atmospheric scene-setting that almost surpasses Wagner, but it is ultimately left to the listeners to interpret this story and read its message for themselves. As is often with Mahler, there are cryptic clues—references to his tragic song cycle Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Wayfarer), echoes of Austrian and Jewish folk music—but one doesn’t need to know any of that to be enthralled and captivated by this stunning musical journey.