Tugan Sokhiev conducts Mahler’s First
Philharmonie Berlin, Main Auditorium (Berlin)
It is his first major work, and yet it is a mature musical statement. Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 contains everything that would characterise the composer’s later style: emotional outbursts, sudden yawning chasms, folkloric melodies, the sounds of nature, grotesque alienations. Conductor Tugan Sokhiev places this work alongside Lili Boulanger’s impressionistic, shimmering D’un matin de printemps and a newly-composed viola concerto by South Korean composer Donghoon Shin – also an admirer of Mahler. The solo part of the world premiere will be played by Amihai Grosz, first principal viola of the Berliner Philharmoniker.