A Symphonic Century I: Titan

Edo de Waart surveys the heartland of orchestral composition which were Austria and Germany in the 19th Century. From Beethoven’s youthfully bold First Symphony (1799-1800) to Berg’s exquisitely chromatic Seven Early Songs (1905-08; orch 1928), Germanic composers used the ever-expanding orchestra as the medium uniquely capable of giving voice to their creativity.

While Beethoven and Schubert carried the classical aesthetic into the 19th Century, Wagner, Bruckner and Mahler were born into a different era, and demanded vastly increased ensembles to achieve their expressive goals.

Although Wagner’s Ring operas require vocal mastery previously unknown, the massive orchestra, which underscores these gigantic stage works, ultimately tells the story through his ingenious use of highly characterized leitmotivs and sweepingly dramatic orchestration.

Edo de Waart’s profound affinity with this music has been lauded through his series of Beethoven and Mahler performances since 2004. In A Symphonic Century he reviews a hundred years of flourishing musical creation on which orchestras are built.