Symphony No. 6 in A minor, Gustav Mahler

Symphony No. 35 in D major (Haffner), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Our season opens by pairing Mahler’s most Classical symphony, the Sixth, with Mozart’s energetic Symphony No. 35. Mozart’s so-called Haffner Symphony, originating as a “serenade” of party music for the Haffner family, is gracious and celebratory.

It provides welcome contrast to Mahler’s Sixth Symphony, a dramatically powerful, emotionally catastrophic, and utterly merciless depiction of heroism and oppression.  Famed for its unquestionably tragic finale, the symphony has been heard both as a prophecy of the desolation of the First World War and as an attempt to wrestle with the inevitability of the composer’s own human and artistic mortality.

The Cambridge Symphony Orchestra thanks the Massachusetts Cultural Council for supporting our 2017-18 season.