Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony

Programme

Never one to shy away from a big idea, in his Resurrection Symphony Mahler examines the meaning of life itself.

Throughout its 75 years the Philharmonia has given many outstanding performances of Mahler’s epic, all-embracing symphonies, led by some of the top conductors of the 20th and 21st centuries, from Karajan and Klemperer to Esa-Pekka Salonen. Now our Principal Guest Conductor Jakub Hrůša brings us his take on the great Symphony No. 2, Resurrection, scored for a large orchestra, two solo singers and chorus.

In his own programme notes for the premiere Mahler said that the first movement represents a funeral, with subsequent movements depicting happy memories, followed by the fear that life may have no meaning at all. But reassurance comes from the soprano who sings “I come from God, and to God I shall return”, and in the monumental finale soloists and chorus affirm “O believe, you were not born for nothing!… With wings which I have won for myself, I shall soar upwards, I shall die in order to live.”