Resurrection! It took Mahler somewhere around six years to create his Symphony No2, a work of epic proportions matching the scale of his vision.
It requires a conductor of great experience to exact a performance conveying all the gravitas and emotion over its eighty-plus minute duration, and David Hill was just that man.
The opening Allegro arrests with powerful lower strings, its course representative of a coffin lying in state while mourners reflect upon the deceased’s past life, the music immersing us in various aspects but also sublime respect.
Like a ‘ray of sunlight’ the Andante is a ‘memory of happiness’ elicited by a cheery landler, the third movement takes St. Anthony’s Sermon to the Fishes as its irrational view-preaching to the unhearing-much like mankind at his most destructive today!
The fourth movement; Urlicht, Primeval Light had, in mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnston, a voice of utmost purity, sensitive and superbly controlled, leading to the final movement Resurrection itself.
This, a monumental thirty-five minutes of musical chaos, plumbed both the quietist and loudest dynamics the 250 plus members of the BSO and Bournemouth Symphony Chorus were capable; there were times when you could hear a pin drop and others where a few audience ears were seen to be blocked!
The glorious voice of soprano Lisa Milne headed the chorus into its outstanding contribution, their pianissimo entry was a marvel of breathtaking trance-like euphony, yet if ever they needed every decibel they could muster, this was it, and all without a score.
The 120 strong BSO were fully primed for the visceral crescendos which they delivered with enthralling energy.
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