This is one of the most difficult choral pieces to pull off. You sit for an hour and then you start with singing as soft as humanly possible to as loud as humanly possible in the incredible climax to the piece. It's the only piece I've had to sing that was printed in the old treble clef for the tenors in the choir. It meant transposing down in your head a half step the whole way through. Easy enough for instrumentalists, very hard for singers!
This is about as close as one can get to feel reverence without being religious. Absolute masterpiece by Mahler and an electrifying performance by the orchestra, the chorus, and the conductor. Phenomenal camera work too. Five Stars, Truly a heavenly work of art !!!
Well- thats one side of it....but I am an avowed atheist and this symphony always brings tears to my eyes, as does the ending of the Third symphony@@swesleyc7I dont think you need a loving god as much as you need to feel a respect for this amazing universe and mans capacity to create great art! Just my opinion.
It baffles me that someone can 'hear' these sounds in their head, scribble them onto paper, then a group of people born a hundred years later can produce this from those sheets of paper.
Mahler's symphonies tell the stories of many things. They speak of love, of heartache, redemption, or even the universe itself. His music is thought of as prophetic of the 20th century, and it shows. The 2nd, 3rd, 8th, and 9th all tell this story: life, from beginning on through crisis, love, and death. When people ask me why I love his work so much, this is what I tell them.
Anyone grieving, in despair, without hope, at the end of their tether for any reason should be directed to this music, the most glorious, life-affirming of any music, Mahler's finest, for me. Music is God's greatest gift to mankind, other than love and life itself.
It had been twenty-eight years since I heard this work, when I found it on RU-vid. When I did, and put my headphones on to listen, I lost all sense of passing of time until I returned in the standing ovation at its end, face wet with tears and trembling uncontrollably. If this does not move you in the least, please check your pulse and see if you don't have large gauge IV access already- you may be in the process of being embalmed!
Whenever I hear people comment about the intensity of Wagner, all I can think of is the 5th movement of Mahler's Second. I doubt there is a more moving and intense piece of music in the classical repetoire. Look at the faces of the two lead vocalists at the end...one is almost in tears. When this movement is performed properly it brings tears to the eyes. This version is wonderful!
Yes dear gentleman ,,, i wrote this before. ... " Richard Wagner... he smiles from above... and accompanies this masterpiece with his paternal gaze thinking... I haven't lived in vain! " . Without any doubt the finale of Mahler's second is to be numbered among my favorite 6/7 favorite musical moments,... supreme and sublime... eternal in the pantheon of human artistic genius in the field of music.
@@Duketributechannel Wagner would have thought of Mahler as a clever Jew, skilfully counterfeiting German culture. No more. He was not a beneficent man. That said, this is a glorious performance.
@@bobschaaf2549 So ein Blödsinn! Wagner hatte in seinem Umfeld viele Juden und transponieren Sie den später aufkommenden Hass (60 Jahre nach Wagners Tod) nicht auf Wagner. Er hätte Mahler respektiert. Dieses Denken, das Sie besitzen, schauderhaft …. Hören Sie lieber dieser Musik zu und studieren Sie Geschichte.
MUY VERAZ TU COMENTARIO, PERO MAS ALLA EN LO PROFUNDO DEL UNIVERSO, SE ESCUCHA LA OCTAVA SINFONIA Y SU PROFUNDISIMO FINAL, TANTO; QUE EL MISMO MAHALER DESCRIBIO: SOLO LOS DE BUEN CORAZON, ESTARAN JUNTO AL CREADOR, VIENDO COMO SE RESQUEBRAJA EL UNIVERSO.
Mahler 2 is the epitome of all Western music. Mahler suffered the most tragic personal affronts, with the deaths of his children and the facing of his own mortality at a young age, and nevertheless wrote music that soared triumphantly to laugh in the face of death and discouragement, to exalt in the power of life. "Sterben bin ich um zu leben" (I will die in order to live") is perhaps the most powerful set of words ever conceived by a human, and this is the power that this music possesses.
It almost feels like this is the symphony to end all symphonies. Yet this is from early in his career. I don't think Mahler could ever replicate what he achieved here...
Which is quite something, she's a Mahler specialist and has done hundreds of hours of Mahler. Check her out with Claudio Abbado and the Lucerne orchestra doing Mahler 3. That is the best performance of that work ever. Mahler would have loved her.
Reading many comments compels me to confess that I came here after hearing Bradley Cooper name this song on the Colbert Questionnaire as one he would choose if forced to listen to only one song for the rest of his life. And I searched for "Mollers Resurrection". Haha! Man, this was awesome!
Awesome video that kept the focus on the orchestra instead of lingering on the excellent conductor, Gustavo Dudamel. The Simon Bolivar Orchestra of Venezuela sounds fantastic as does the National Youth Choir of Great Britain performing in London's Royal Albert Hall.
This movement HAS everything that describes a human lifetime on earth. I cried a lot!! How amazing, painful , and hopeful!! Just beautiful! I admire the choir, the orchestra, the soloists and Dudamel for their incredible musical gift to all of us!! WOW!!
We performed this magnificent piece in 1966 with the Pittsburgh Symphony, Mendelssohn Choir. Exquisite beyond words. It's 2018 and we still get goosebumps when we hear it.
A great performance. I particularly liked that the two soloists joined the chorus in the closing pages. Most other performances have the soloists just sitting down and not participating. Bravo Gustavo!
This is a gorgeous performance of a gorgeous piece! It requires attention, so not right for this occasion. I put it in because I think it is the last piece of live classical music that Larry heard--in the camper, played by the BSO at Tanglewood!
Im April 2019 sang ich als Chorist in der Berliner Philharmonie im Konzert eine Verschränkung von Mozart Requiem mit der 2. Sinfonie von Mahler, arrangiert von Wolfgang Roese /ORSO Orchestra & Choral Society. Obwohl ich keiner religiösen Gemeinschaft angehöre, bekomme ich beim Hören dieses Finales immer wieder Gänsehaut.
In 1945 as a 9 years old I was in a choir in Buenos Aires Argentina and we sang with the Teatro Colon strings ensemble, a contralt and under the direction of Pedro Valenti Costa The Stabat Mater by Pergolessi In Radio Splendid! I wonder if there is a record of that and or a movie. Also would be great if Gustavo Dudamel could direct something like that. A training like that gave me a taste and love of good music! But everything is Music including all sort of popular expresions!
I dedicate this wonderfull and majestic master piece to my beloved brother (he gave up...). He need to died to find life in our hearths... He was a Ópera singer.. a Tenor...
As a previous commenter has said, Abreu is dead and so is the excellent and inspiring El Sistema and its senior orchestra. I really hope the orchestra can be resurrected in another country, and that the national El Sistema can be reconstituted under a far superior President than the criminals running Venezuela right now. This Mahler performance is so ultimately inspiring and should stand as testimony of how excellence can be achieved in a poor country.
I don't believe Mahler necessarily meant a typical Christian resurrection with this, as he was born and raised Jewish and only later converted to Christianity. He wasn't religious for neither of both religions (he also featured Nietzsche's also sprach Zarathustra in his 3rd symphony, Zarathustra famously stated that God was dead). He had a much more natural philosophical approach to life and death.
The Royal Albert Hall is the best place to hear Mahler. The pipe organ is just right. I have seen numerous Mahler concerts there. Pure magic! Thanks for posting.
Maravillosa interpretación. Deusche Grammophone o BBC Proms deberían publicar en DVD esta joya del espiritu y del arte musical. Interpretes Venezolanos, Britanicos las dos solistas suecas, bajo la dirección de Dudamel, fundidos en el espiritu del Ser. Bravissimo.
Luis Maria Vieito Soria, We are in total agreement: In several comments on this music, I have written, time and again, that this music was not earth-born!!!
If you love this music you really need to listen to Bruno Walter's 1960 Columbia Symphony version on Sony Classics. Walter was friends with Mahler and this was his second to last recorded symphony. This version newly blew me off my chair and Mildred Miller's mezzo is extraordinary!
The power behind Mahler's music is truly inspiring and terrifying at the same time. This could be the music of a revolution, and I always think of it when I am inspired to write something, although, being a trombonist, I am biased toward the 3rd, 5th, and 8th symphonies :)
It is a shame that this magnificent performance of this monumental masterpiece, due to contractual reasons (as far as I know), will not be released for commercial sale on DVD or CD. Shame on you BBC!
Well if you don't feel "elevated" to soaring heights when you hear this Symphony's Finale, you never will. My favorite video recording of this work remains Staatskapelle Berlin directed by Pierre Boulez
Best piece of classical music ever written! Was lucky enough to hear this performed sublimely in King’s College Chapel in Cambridge by the university choir and orchestra. When lockdown rules allow this is top of my list to hear live again. Always moved to tears at the end ❤️
>>----------------------------> "As if gazing upon a pond, the reflection is indulged, while the depth ignored." -E.S. Kensly Such is the world who praises the deeds of man, and shuns the depth of his creation. The meaning behind this music is what is glorious.
@Rainbow Vic You are not only foul-mouthed but wrong ( i.e. ignorant). Mahler was unquestionably a believer when he composed this symphony. So you should get your facts right before offering such abuse.
I know this clearly... as I am cremated, whether or not there is audience to hear this lovely ending I want it played as the doors close and the angry rush of the flames envelop me to consume the last of my mortality; as warm as the swaddling blankets I was wrapped in at birth. As the imperfect, weak mortal falls away I shall still remain in the silent memory of the One True God, awaiting His call. I know as sure as I know my own name I will rise to His call, in newness of Life; to be judged in His Presence. If I am found worthy of life everlasting I hope to serve Him beyond all memory of days, if not, I will rest in Oblivion's thrall to know no more. Merciful is He, Creator and Savior, to whom all souls belong! Death, what are you? need I even fear the silent enemy who cannot hold shut the dearest hopes of the heart or silence the voice of God?
Jared Clark I conducted it. That is all. Over and out. Not here to discuss my professional life and "achievements" (under another name) hope you respect that. Best wishes to you! p.s. if you go to the Euroartschannel here on youtube, "the" best Mahler 2 is a live performance conducted by Abbado...r.i.p. ... check it out.Bonne Chance. :-)
how about the Bernstein rendition. with Sheila Armstrong and Janet Baker. Edinburgh festival chorus and London symphony orchestra. nothing tops that. Dudamel comes close. but that is my personal opinion
por un momento creia que arrancaba los reposabrazos de mi silla!!! da igual de donde seas cuando escuchas esta musica solo existe una conexion casi mistica del ser humano con el gran espiritu!
and i do agree with NonInflatable's comment, as well as with prevalain. However, ALL here are musicians... whether vocalists, instrumentalists and of course conductor. my thanks to OQL for posting and sharing.
