12. Philharmonisches Konzert: Mahlers 2. Sinfonie

Mahler's Second Symphony is gigantic - in the truest sense of the word! Wagner's Tristan und Isolde is a Haydn symphony by comparison, joked the conductor Hans von Bülow after hearing the first draft of this work. However, he would not live to see its completion, as it was only at Bülow's funeral that the young Mahler had a flash of inspiration to complete his so-called "Resurrection Symphony" in Hamburg: a symphony as a musical mystery between death and resurrection - with a huge orchestra, additional distant orchestra, choir and vocal soloists. Mahler deploys a gigantic apparatus here and unleashes a scenario that ranges from infernal chaos to heavenly apotheosis. The effect is indescribable, a redemptive catharsis, a musical awakening of the kind that is not often experienced: "I will die in order to live! Resurrect, yes resurrect you will, my heart, in a flash! What you have beaten, it will carry you to God!"

The concert introduction begins 30 minutes before the concert in the Great Hall of the Glocke.