NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra / Annette Dasch
Lux aeterna
»You were struck by an unusual sight on stage the moment you entered the concert hall. Apart from the orchestra, which was around 120 strong, a huge crowd of singers was also camped around the stage … not a single square inch was left unoccupied anywhere in the hall. Trumpeters must have taken up positions all around us because the sounds of the brass instruments came from every direction.« Clearly consternated by the sheer number of musicians involved, the reviewer for the »Neue Zeitschrift für Musik« described the impression made upon him at the premiere of Gustav Mahler’s Second Symphony in Berlin in 1896. After the monumental, transcendent choral finale, a fervent ovation broke out that knew no end. Several people were in tears and the conservatory students who had come out in droves embraced each other exuberantly.
Performances of the »Resurrection Symphony« are still spectacular events today. The piece can now be heard in the Elbphilharmonie and will fill and fulfil the hall right up to the upper tiers. Incidentally, the composer received inspiration for the finale and its message of hope – »Aufersteh’n, ja aufersteh’n wirst du« – not far from the Elbphilharmonie. On 29 March 1894, he attended Hans von Bülow’s memorial service in Hamburg’s St. Michael’s Church. »I had long been considering incorporating the choir in the last movement«, wrote Mahler about this experience. »The mood in which I sat there and remembered the departed was exactly in the spirit of the work I was carrying around with me at the time. And right there, the choir, accompanied by the organ, intoned the Klopstock chorus ›Aufersteh’n!‹. Everything was clear and transparent before my soul! The artist is always waiting for this bolt, this is the ›holy conception‹! What I experienced there I then had to recreate on paper.«
Performers
NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester
NDR Vokalensemble
WDR Rundfunkchor
Annette Dasch soprano
Gerhild Romberger mezzo-soprano
conductor Thomas Hengelbrock
Programme
Gustav Mahler
Sinfonie Nr. 2 c-Moll für Sopran, Alt, Chor und Orchester »Auferstehungssinfonie«
Estimated end time
12:30