Only sixteen Lieder (songs for voice and piano) survive from Alma Mahler’s vast compositional output, as her husband Gustav curtailed her publication efforts for much of their marriage, only relenting upon seeing his wife’s suffering due to a lack of creative outlet. The BPO performs six works that draw their text from her contemporary poets whose works evoke love—intoxicating, intimate, infinite, and reflective of loves’ past. The Lieder are harmonically rich and are both sensitive and dramatic—they are, perhaps, reflective of the composer’s own life experiences. Following his wife’s work, Gustav Mahler’s initially panned Symphony No. 1 employs musical imagery akin to a song cycle. Gustav composed the “Titan” at the same time as his song cycle Songs of a Wayfarer, and consequently, themes of travel seem to penetrate this piece. The music interprets a musical journey through life and nature’s joys and sorrows. This program promises the experience of humanity’s universal emotions through the music of the Mahlers.

JoAnn Falletta, conductor
Andrea Bickford, soprano

A. MAHLER  Lieder
1. Die stille Stadt
2. Waldseligkeit
3. Licht in der Nacht
4. Bei dir ist es traut
5. Laue Sommernacht
6. Erntelied
G. MAHLER  Symphony No. 1, “Titan”