Thu, 15. 4. 2021, 7.00 p.m.

B6 MAHLER RESURRECTION

Venue: Zlín Congress Centre  |  Organizer: Filharmonie Bohuslava Martinů, o.p.s.  | 

Our penultimate Series B concert presents Gustav Mahler's monumental vocal-instrumental work written for soprano and alto soloists, mixed choir and large orchestra. The Second Symphony is a five-movement opus whose massive scale places it more in the category of a symphonic cantata.

Mahler started work on his second symphony in January 1888 at a time when he was Second Kapellmeister at the Leipzig Opera House and while he was still working on his Symphony No. 1. The work was not completed until six years later in July 1894 when Mahler was deeply affected by the death of his close friend, the distinguished conductor Hans von Bülow. Mahler attended the funeral in person, and was later heard to remark that the choir sounded like angels, touching the heavens with their voices. Mahler had worked very hard on the symphony but it seemed unlikely to be performed owing to the large number of musicians and singers it required. Only in December 1895 was the Symphony No. 2 finally performed with Mahler himself at the podium in Berlin, but the public reaction was decidedly cool. Subsequent performances in Munich and Basel, however, were received with thunderous applause and sealed his fortune as a respected composer.

Our performance of Mahler's Symphony No. 2 features the soprano Eva Hornyáková and mezzo-soprano Václava Krejčí Housková, backed up by the Brno-based Czech Philharmonic Choir, with Tomáš Brauner at the podium.