Mahler, Resurrection

An immense orchestra, a four-part choir, two soloists and instruments in the wings... Mahler did not skimp on the scale of the forces in this work, commensurate with the breadth of his message. His Second Symphony suggests that death is nothing, that man can surpass his mere mortal condition. From the sombre opening funeral march, wrenched from the bowels of the earth, to the final apotheosis, this "Resurrection" (first performed in Berlin in 1895) transports us to the very heart of post-romantic music. Gergely Madaras returns to Mahlerian storms and takes over from the composer, who presented the work in Liège on 22 January 1899, conducting his music outside German-speaking countries for the first time.