Share your comments on Mahler’s First Symphony: “Titan”
Concert Coda
Press Review
“[T]he orchestra seemed to pull the music from great depths to a forceful conclusion that brought the audience to its feet.”
The Star-Ledger, March 16, 2015
“The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra pairing of Leonard Bernstein’s Age of Anxiety with Gustav Mahler’s First Symphony [was] inspired for the contrast of its two composers.”
ConcertoNet.com, March 16, 2015
#OrchestraYou Participants
Thank you for being a part of #OrchestraYou on Friday! It was a magical evening of music. Please feel free to share your experience on NJSO’s Facebook or Twitter pages, or on the Concert Coda page.
Season-Ending Survey
If this was the last concert in your subscription series, please take a season-ending survey to share your thoughts on the season with us. Click here to begin.
From the Stage
Jacques Lacombe, Music Director
“Kirill and I had performed Bernstein’s ‘Age of Anxiety’ together in Montreal a few seasons ago, and we both felt really good about our interpretation of it, so I wanted to find another occasion to play it together. It was just a matter of finding the right program, and this pairing with Mahler’s First Symphony made a perfect combination. Bernstein had such a great relationship with Mahler’s music, and his piece is about debating and dealing with the meaning of life. Mahler’s music often wrestles with those same questions, with dealing with who we are. That’s an interesting connection.
“‘Age of Anxiety’ is quite introspective—the first half of the piece is a set of variations in which the music is constantly revealing itself. Then there is a jazz element, a four-minute section that’s essentially piano solo with only percussion and double bass—a side of Bernstein we’re more familiar with—and then a big, powerful ending. It’s a different Bernstein that we see, and with music like this, you can understand why he was so excited about composers like Mahler.”
PROGRAM INFORMATION
JACQUES LACOMBE conductor
KIRILL GERSTEIN piano
NEW JERSEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
BERNSTEIN Symphony No. 2, “The Age of Anxiety”
MAHLER Symphony No. 1, “Titan”
Comments