SF Philharmonic Announces “Season of Titans”

Tchaikovsky and Mahler “face off” on the San Francisco Philharmonic poster for the first concert of its season of “Titans” (from the Groupmuse Web page for this performance)

Early next month will mark the beginning of the new season of the San Francisco Philharmonic. The overall title is Season of Titans, and the first program will live up to that name … literally. The second half of the program will be devoted entirely to Gustav Mahler’s first symphony, composed in the key of D major. The title of this article is a reflection on the following sentence from the Wikipedia page for this composition: “For the 1893 Hamburg and 1894 Weimar performances, Mahler gave the piece the title Titan after the novel by Jean Paul, although Mahler specified that the piece was not in any way ‘about’ the book; the nickname is often used today, but properly only applies to those two versions.” That said, those familiar with the last of the four movements of this symphony will probably agree that the prevailing rhetoric is “titanic!”

The first half of the program will also present a single composition. This will be Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Opus 49, best known as the “1812 Overture.” (The original title was “The Year 1812, Solemn Overture.”) This was the year in which the Russian army prevailed of Napoleon’s French invasion. The opposition is reflected in the music, which begins with the music of the Eastern Orthodox “Troparion of the Holy Cross.” The French national anthem, “La Marseillaise,” “invades” the orchestra; and Russia responds to battle with selections of Russian folk music. The French finally retreat, and the overture concludes with a rousing performance of “God Save the Tsar.”

Taken as a whole, the duration of the program will be approximately 90 minutes. It will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, October 3. The performance will take place in Herbst Theatre, which is located in the Veterans Building on the southwest corner of Van Ness Avenue and McAllister Street. This will be a Groupmuse Night Out performance, and tickets will be sold for $22 through the Groupmuse Web page. (“Supermusers” will be able to purchase tickets for $17.) As of this writing, a generous number of tickets are available.