Masterworks 5: Titan

Darko Butorac, conductor

Olga Kern, piano

Our season finale takes a dramatic turn and features two powerful titans of Western repertoire, both firsts for their composers. Once deemed worthless and unplayable by his mentor, Tchaikovsky’s first piano concerto quickly leapt to international fame and secured its place as one of the most bombastic and popular piano concertos ever composed. A fitting companion indeed for Mahler’s mighty “Titan.” Mahler evokes the “voice of nature” with his first symphony, capturing nature’s beauty with “leisurely” melodies and its fury with “stürmisch bewegt” (stormy motion) for a powerful and emotional end to our season.

Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1

Mahler Symphony No. 1, “Titan”