
Christmas Matinee: Mahler
Myung-whun Chung conducts Mahler’s Fifth Symphony
Myung-whun Chung adds a new chapter to the Concertgebouw Orchestra’s deep bond with Mahler’s kaleidoscopic Fifth Symphony.
Daniele Gatti leads the Concertgebouworkest, Annette Dasch, Karen Cargill and the Netherlands Radio Choir in Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2. A vast work about death, redemption and resurrection.
Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, known as the ‘Resurrection Symphony’, is a vast work, lasting almost an hour and a half, and commanding a full orchestra, with extra brass, extra bells, a full choir, soprano and contralto soloists, and a ‘Fernorchester’ – a small extra orchestra outside the concert hall. With his Second Symphony, Mahler reached the limits of what a symphony can do – and then he crossed them. He had to: he was trying to express the most august concepts, and ‘mere notes would not suffice’.
Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, known as the ‘Resurrection Symphony’, is a vast work, lasting almost an hour and a half, and commanding a full orchestra, with extra brass, extra bells, a full choir, soprano and contralto soloists, and a ‘Fernorchester’ – a small extra orchestra outside the concert hall. With his Second Symphony, Mahler reached the limits of what a symphony can do – and then he crossed them. He had to: he was trying to express the most august concepts, and ‘mere notes would not suffice’.