Mahler - Symphony No. 1

Mahler - Symphony No. 1

The Orchestre de Paris performs Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 1 in D major under the direction of Christoph Eschenbach. This concert was filmed at the Salle Pleyel in Paris in 2007. To compose this play, Mahler was inspired by the novel Titan by Jean Paul, in which a young man gifted for the arts, but unable to find his place in society and consumed by despair, decides to put an end to his life. The genesis of the work was not easy for Mahler: he composed it between 1887 and 1888, at the time when he was conductor of the Leipzig opera. The first version of the work took the form of a two-part symphonic poem, the first of which was presented in Budapest in 1898. However, the work has not been popular and critically acclaimed, so that Mahler was forced to make changes. This new version gave rise to the magnificent Symphony No. 1 that we know today, and which is a tour de force for such a young composer.