Mahler: Symphony No. 2 / Mehta, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

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Music reviews of Mahler: Symphony No. 2 / Mehta, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

Music Review: AUFERSTEH'N: Zubin Mehta Rocks the Golgotha!
Rating: 5 Stars

And this was not money spent in vain. Zubin Mehta and the Vienna Philharmonic deliver an astounding performance of "Resurrection," one that resonates far beyond any other recording these particular ears have endured. The tone is set at the very beginning: dark, eruptive, with a rapidity that, initially, comes as a bit of a shock; yet also feels *right*, fully engaging the listener within the space of a few thundering bars. This is music that would plod and grumble in lesser hands; here it growls, it screams and howls, the anguish of a life in final decline: the Titan of the 1st, having struggled to culmination, now faces a foe that cannot be vanquished. From spring to winter, and then _beyond_: Mahler ambition and resultant art is staggering even now, more than a hundred years from its controversial inception.

Of course, the man who wrote this music would immediately beg to differ with my musings above, on the grounds of sheer presumption. During the period this symphony was conceived, Mahler began to experience displeasure at the limitations of 'programme,' or detailed explanation of the symphonic work. In seeking the exact meaning of the movements, in labeling and categorizing what should be experienced beyond the reduction of words, the *purity* of the music itself was debased. These are noble sentiments, and aesthetically admirable, but also rather limiting for the purpose of this review... so on with the interpretations, regardless! Mahler himself provided several outlines of this symphony, the last emerging _after_ he publicly disavowed programmes, and these both support and offer counterpoint to the central themes. The opening 'Todtenfeier,' a grim funeral march, is usually thought to depict the epic struggle of a mighty being grappling with life, and realizing the yawing mouth of death as reward for such suffering; in a different programme, however, Mahler stated more ambitious concerns:

"The [Titan hero] I bear to his grave, and whose life I reflect, from a higher vantage point...the question is asked: _What_ did you live for? _Why_ do you suffer? Is it only a vast, terrifying joke? -We have to answer these questions...to go on living...indeed, if we are only to go on dying! And...this answer I give in the last movement."

Mehta's version of 'Todtenfeier' is 21.03 minutes long. The Allegro tempi gives the march an appropriately wrenching momentum, which accentuates the mellow passages - even in the bliss of strings and horns, one can feel a storm hovering at bay, with lightning-bolts trashing through the murky roil. It sets contrast upon these achingly beautiful 'memory-fragments,' nostalgic yearning ever swallowed by the chaos-shroud of a future battle. After the final release of the first movement - the swiftness of the end perhaps describing the sudden collapse of our Titan - nostalgia dominates the second movement, a striking contrapuntal Waltz that, while gorgeous on the surface, contains ambiguous foreboding beneath...

The Scherzo, with its sunny central theme and shadowy intervening sections, seems to me a meld of the Funeral March and the 2nd Waltz, with the oblivion-shade infiltrating the reflections of yesteryear. In a letter to a correspondent, Mahler confessed that sections of the third movement were perhaps the most difficult of the entire symphony to compose, and at one time he "gave up and omitted" its climax. "Usually...I don't want to come to grips with [the difficulty and/or significance]... yet they continue to hold me up and finally force their way to expression. Now I see that it is the most indispensable, the most powerful part of the entire movement."

The fourth passage, "Urlict," was originally composed as a separate song, and Mahler incorporated it into the symphony at a rather late stage, realizing he needed a bridge between the third and last movements. I must say that, in the end, it works perfectly as a thematic interlude: the softness of the music, its short duration and, especially, the sorrowful vocal: "oh, rosebud red!" -seems to give voice to awakened epiphany - the nostalgia-cloud is burned away with the last-gasp declaration: "I refuse to be sent back! I am from God and shall return to God!" And then, at the end of these "purgatory-strings," the dissonant shriek of death itself makes itself violently known with the opening of the fifth. From here the pace slows as Mahler recapitulates his various motifs toward the "Aufersteh'n" choral, building, building, ever building... until reaching that breathtaking climax of voice and instrumentation:

"Rise again, yea, thou shalt rise again / My dust, after short rest! / Immortal Life! Immortal Life!.../ To bloom again art thou sown!"

The impact of this choral, after the seventy-five minute endurance test of grief and remembrance, denial and acceptance, utterly overwhelms the senses: a riveting catharsis!

This CD encapsulates the entire symphony, allowing for a smooth, uninterrupted listening experience. Audiophiles may gripe about the non-digital transfer, but for me, Mehta's rendition is the undisputable 2nd to own - and at ten dollars, a mind-boggling value.

Highest recommendation.

Description of Mahler: Symphony No. 2 / Mehta, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra