Mahler: Finale from Symphony No. 2

Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) Symphony No 2 Resurrection Gustav Mahler's second symphony is one of his most monumental and all-encompassing. It is music that embodies life itself and its most fundamental existential questions. A symphony where art and life coincide and perhaps that is why it hits us with such force. Questions of metaphysics, cosmology, religious problems and existentialism fascinated Mahler. Thoughts about the meaning of life and the paradox of death constantly occupied him, and the second symphony from 1894 is a magnificent musical manifestation of ideas about life, death and rebirth. It is therefore called the Resurrection Symphony. To portray his visions of all the states and emotions of life, Mahler used soprano and alto soloists, a choir and a giant orchestra. Two dramatic outer movements enclose the more cheerful middle movements. The first movement is full of fate and loaded, dreamy and romantic, and gets a sharp contrast in the carefree andante of the second movement. The timpani start of the third movement abruptly breaks the pleasant mood. Uncertainty spreads and humour, feelings of triumph and seriousness replace each other. In the fourth movement, Urlicht, we hear a raised, beautiful alto solo with text from the folk song collection Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Boy's Enchanted Horn), which had literally struck Mahler. In the fifth and last movement, the choir enters and we are lifted towards a higher, heavenly sphere.