Mahler: Symphony 2 (Mariss Janson) (CD, Br-Klassik)

Gustav Mahler’s Second Symphony should go beyond any known format and deal with the big questions of meaning: Why did you live? Why did you suffer Is this all just great, awful fun? We must somehow resolve these questions if we are to go on living. so the composer. Similar questions preoccupied him all his life, especially during his time as Hamburg Opera Kapellmeister. The second symphony, which is also known as the resurrection symphony, is an expression of Mahler’s existential struggle, which can be understood in its form and its overwhelming sonority. The genesis of the symphony stretched over several years; it was written between 1888 and 1894. In September 1888, the first movement, which at that time still bore the title Totenfeier, had already been completed. The second and third movements were not written until 1893 and Mahler was able to complete the entire work in 1894. Like most of Mahler’s symphonies, it follows the motto Per aspera ad astra (Rough paths lead to the stars). Based on a funeral march in the main theme of the first movement, the passing of a life full of urgency, agitated by energy, pain, fate and only brief beautiful moments, the symphony closes with a triumphant resurrection movement. The first performance of the complete symphony took place on December 13, 1895 in Berlin under Mahler’s direction; previously (on March 4, 1895) he had already performed the first three movements. The first performance of the second symphony therefore took place after that of the third. The reactions were initially muted, but today the work is considered one of Mahler’s most popular symphonies. The Munich concert event from May 2011 is now being released as a CD by BR Klassik, the top-class and outstanding interpretation of one of the most important compositions of the symphonic repertoire of the late Romantic period.