Volume 24 Issue 7 - April 2019

Beat by Beat | Classical & Beyond
Mahler’s
Resurrection
Bursting the Bounds
Of Symphonic Form
PAUL ENNIS
In the summer of 2016 I was given a package of Mahler DVDs
produced and directed by Jason Starr, a prolific maker of dozens
of video and films, from classical music and modern dance
performances to documentary profiles of artists and cultural issues.
He began his Mahler odyssey in 2003 with a splendid deconstruction
of what Mahler himself called “a musical poem that travels through
all the stages of evolution.” I wrote about What the Universe Tells
Me: Unravelling the Mysteries of Mahler’s Third Symphony –
Starr’s impressive 60-minute film – in the September 2016 issue
of WholeNote in conjunction with the TSO’s performance of the
symphony then.
Having noticed the TSO’s upcoming performance of Mahler’s
Symphony No.2 “Resurrection” on April 17, 18 and 20, I decided to
take another look at Of Love, Death and Beyond, Starr’s 2011 exploration
of that monumental work. The combination of an all-star
orchestra and chorus conducted by Neeme Järvi, with narration by
Thomas Hampson and talking Mahlerian heads led by Henry-Louis de
Gustav Mahler
La Grange, produced a rich tapestry of insight and background, some
of which I thought I would share to illuminate what has become a
cornerstone of the symphonic repertoire.
When Mahler began working on his second symphony in 1888, he
was “a 27-year-old itinerant conductor and virtually unknown as a
composer.” By the time of its premiere in December 1895, Mahler’s
conducting star was burning brightly, although the negative reception
of his first symphony still lingered.
Mahler believed that there must be something cosmic about a
symphony; it should be as inexhaustible as the world. With the
“Resurrection” Symphony, he burst the confines of symphonic form
with a massive instrumental and choral cohort that outdid Beethoven.
Haunted by death throughout his life – he lost several family members
KINDRED SPIRITS ORCHESTRA
10 th anniversary concert season
22 | April 2019 thewholenote.com