CONCERT PROGRAMME
G. Mahler. Symphony No. 2 (“Resurrection Symphony“)
For the celebratory beginning of the 36th concert season, the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra, led by the artistic director and chief conductor Gintaras Rinkevičius chose one of the most famous works of the Austrian musical genius Gustav Mahler (1860–1911) – the Second Symphony, also known as the "Resurrection" Symphony. Among G. Mahler's ten symphonies and "The Song of the Earth", Second has a unique place – it opens up a group of works of the composer connected with vocals, and turns this genre towards new discoveries.
G. Mahler's Second Symphony premiered in 1895 at the Berlin Philharmonic, and was conducted by the composer himself. This symphony is a monumental five-movement cycle for soprano, mezzo-soprano, mixed choir and orchestra. The greater part of its poetic texts consists of stanzas from the collection of German folk songs “The Boy’s Magic Horn”, while the basis of the symphony's finale is the text of the hymn "Resurrection" by the German poet Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock and the composer's own lines. Accordingly, the piece is also called the “Resurrection” symphony. However, G. Mahler does not emphasize the literary program neither in the Second nor other vocal symphonies: the musical action develops not on the basis of the plot, but rather on the basis of symphonic logic.
In the Second Symphony, the author claimed to continue the ideas of the First Symphony (this is also indicated by the reminiscences of musical themes in the first part), but at the same time, the Second Symphony is also the tragic antithesis of the First. In the latter, the hero was full of strength, youthful drive; here he is tormented by the meaning of life and other philosophical questions. The finale of the Second Symphony summarily answers the fatal questions of life and death through a large-scale vocal-instrumental fresco, the pinnacle of the entire musical event. In turn, it is a symphony within a symphony, in which three contrasting emotional spheres are essentially interwoven with themes associated with the symbolic images of death, suffering, wandering man and resurrection. The answer to eternal questions is prophetically found: “I will die in order to live” (“Sterben werd ich um zu leben”).