Pacific Symphony Season Finale Includes Mahler's TITAN

Pacific Symphony ends its Classical Season with Mahler's monumental Symphony No. 1, originally titled "Titan" by the composer. Suggested by its title, Mahler expanded conventional symphonic form in this epic work, with which the orchestra inaugurated the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in 2006. Introducing the program is Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante for Four Winds, highlighting the talents of the Symphony's Principal Wind players Ben Smolen (flute), Jessica Pearlman (oboe), Rose Corrigan (bassoon) and Keith Popejoy (horn). Mahler's "Titan" also leads the season's last Sunday Matinée series that Sunday, June 9.

The Classical "Mahler's 'Titan'" takes place on Thursday through Saturday, June 6-8 at 8 p.m.; tickets start at $25. The Sunday Matinée "Mahler's First" takes place on Sunday, June 9 at 3 p.m.; tickets start at $33. To purchase tickets or learn more, please visit our website at PacificSymphony.org, or call our Box Office at (714) 755-5799. Pacific Symphony gratefully acknowledges sponsorship for these concerts as part of the Symphony's 2018-19 Hal & Jeanette Segerstrom Family Foundation Classical Series.

The Sinfonia Concertante for Four Winds in E flat Major is a work thought to be by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart-the story of its commission has been the subject of intrigue and speculation going back to its inception. Because the original manuscript score was lost, some scholars are unwilling to go beyond identifying the commonly accepted performing edition-mysteriously found in the late 1860s, and not in Mozart's hand-as "attributed to" Mozart. However, we can rely on the redoubtable Robert Levin, a musicologist and pianist who is one of the foremost living authorities on Mozart. Analyzing with clarinetist and scholar Daniel Leeson, Levin's complex and highly qualified conclusion is that this sinfonia is at least largely Mozart, though the orchestration is still up for grabs.

Symphony No. 1 in D major by Gustav Mahler was mainly composed between late 1887 and March 1888, though it incorporates music Mahler had composed for previous works. It was composed while Mahler was second conductor at the Leipzig Opera, Germany. Although in his letters Mahler almost always referred to the work as a symphony, the first two performances described it as a symphonic poem or tone poem. The work was premièred at the Vigadó Concert Hall, Budapest, in 1889, but was not well received. Mahler made some major revisions for the second performance, given at Hamburg in October 1893; further alterations were made in the years prior to the first publication, in late 1898. Some modern performances and recordings give the work the title Titan, despite the fact that Mahler only used this label for two early performances, and never after the work had reached its definitive four-movement form in 1896.

Artists, programs, prices and dates are subject to change.

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