concert James Judd conducts Mahler's Symphony No. 1 Asian Youth Orchestra

A timeless work shaped by irony and melancholy, Mahler’s brilliant Symphony No. 1 is nicknamed “Titan” in reference to Romantic writer Johann Paul Richter’s eponymous novel. Its hero, confronted with an unwholesome world, survives thanks to his imagination and his dreams, which make up his internal strength. Completed in Leipzig in 1888, the symphony was premiered in Budapest under Mahle’s own direction. Behind the mysterious introduction and the triumphal conclusion was the incredible passion that—at the time that the work was composed—was shared by Mahler and a certain Mrs. von Weber (wife of the grandson of the creator of Freischütz).