Join us on Sunday, Aug. 2 at 1 p.m. on WRTI 90.1 and Monday, Aug. 3 at 7 p.m. on WRTI HD-2 as The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert brings you a single work of unforgettable power: Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 in C Minor, with soprano Ying Fang, mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, and the women of the Philadelphia Symphonic Choir. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts.
Gustav Mahler took seven years to write this symphony. When he began, he had no idea where it would lead him. Its complicated genesis began with a massive tone poem he called “Todtenfeier,” or “Funeral Rite,” inspired by pressing questions about death and the afterlife. Once it was written, Mahler was unsure what to do with this music. Should it remain a freestanding work? Or was it the beginning of a symphony? He put it aside for a few years.
When he returned to the project, he had decided in favor of a symphony. He created three interludes: first, a country dance as the second movement of the symphony; and for the third and fourth movements, he prepared orchestrations of two songs he had composed earlier. Then, another mental block. How should the symphony end? Mahler felt it must involve voices, but worried that a choral finale might invite comparisons to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.
Inspiration came during the funeral of a close friend, as the choir sang a setting of a poem beginning “Aufersteh’n!” — “Rise again!” This led Mahler to the transforming moment in the finale of the “Resurrection” Symphony. He realized he could hold the chorus in reserve while he revived the terrifying orchestral questions of the opening movement. Then a hushed, barely audible utterance from the huge choral ensemble would usher in the magnificent last minutes of the symphony.
Yannick Nézet-Séguin calls this moment “probably the most stunning introduction of human voices in history. But from then, it's just a crescendo…The ending remains the most extraordinary moment in music, a moment where, as you can imagine for a conductor, there’s no better movement to conduct than this.”
PROGRAM:
Mahler: Symphony No. 2 in c Minor
The Philadelphia Orchestra
The Philadelphia Symphonic Choir
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor
Ying Fang, soprano
Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-soprano
WRTI PRODUCTION TEAM:
Melinda Whiting: Host
Alex Ariff: Senior Producer
Tyler McClure: Broadcast Engineer
Listen to The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert broadcasts every Sunday at 1 p.m. on WRTI 90.1, streaming at WRTI.org, on the WRTI mobile app, and on your smart speaker. Listen again on Mondays at 7 p.m. on WRTI HD-2. Listen for up to two weeks after broadcast on WRTI Replay.
