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.
Mahler: Symphony No. 2 'Resurrection''
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’.
