Titan

I'm looking forward to the auspicious beginning of Maestro Honick's career with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra this Friday and Saturday. Friday's concert will be simulcast on WQED FM 89.3

Indeed it is beneficial for Pittsburgh and fortunate for me to hear some of the music from many composers from his home town of Vienna, Austria, including Beethoven, Strauss and Mahler. Although I am quite familiar with most composers of classical music, somehow Mahler has escaped my hearing almost completely. I can't quite say why that is, but this weekend's propitious opening of the Mellon Grand Classic series offers for me a unique opportunity to kindly right my unfortunate oversight, with Mahler's first symphony: "Titan."

It is advantageous to listen to Mahler's music at Heinz Hall where the acoustics bring the sounds alive. His music overlaps the Romantic (1815 - 1910) and the Modern (1900 - 2000) periods of classical music, which might be part of the explanation as to why I've not heard Mahler's works, my preference previously tending to preceding eras (Baroque, Classical and Romantic). I find that when being introduced to music previously unheard, the best way to persuade my ears as to the profundity of the experience is with live music. That's why I urge everyone to attend for themselves, find out what I'm referring to by listening at the concert. The radio is nice, but it's not the same thing as being there.

Of course if this is not reason enough for you, then consider that Joshua Bell will be performing the solo with the PSO in Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto. Additionally we will hear Short Ride in a Fast Machine, a pounding thriller sure to thrill, composed by John Adams, one of the most influential composers of our time.