Gustav Mahler’s Second Symphony began as a single-movement tone poem called Todtenfeier(‘Funeral Rites’). Completed in 1888 – one year before Richard Strauss’s Death and Transfiguration –it echoed the composer’s vision of seeing himself lying dead on a funeral bier surrounded by flowers.
Deciding to use this Todtenfeier as his opening movement, Mahler didn’t finish the complete five-movement symphony until more than six years later.
Mahler himself outlined a scenario for this work by making references to the ultimate meaning of life and death (first movement), recollections of lost innocence and the desperation of unbelief (second and third movements), the return to naïve faith (fourth movement) and final redemption from the last judgement (finale).
To convey all of this he utilized the human voice: He incorporated a solo alto in the 4th movement titled “Urlicht”, and he went on in the finale to risk comparison with Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony by introducing a choir, as well as soprano and alto soloists.
The Minnesota Orchestra and Osmo Vänskä have received praise for their previous Mahler recordings. The team is here joined by soloists Ruby Hughes and Sasha Cooke and the Minnesota Chorale in the deeply moving close to the vast and tumultuous panorama that is Mahler’s Second Symphony.
Here is the Symphony #2 by Gustav Mahler:
