Mahler 2 at Philharmonie Berlin
Listening to a recording is always different to seeing a piece live, and similar to different productions of the same opera, there is some creative license to performing a symphonic concert.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🎭 Robin Ticciati & Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin
🎶 Alma Mahler, Gustav Mahler
🏛️ Philharmonie Berlin
🗓️ 16.11.2024
“HÖR AUF ZU BEBEN! BEREITE DICH, ZU LEBEN!”
I first listened to Mahler‘s second symphony as I was recovering from an intense club night out in Berlin—so you could say Mahler and I are aligned regarding resurrection. I remember being FLOORED at the triumphant finale of the fifth movement, and I could not get enough of this piece of music after that initial listen which figuratively brought me back to life that weekend. Ultimately, Mahler 2 (the Gilbert Kaplan/Vienna Phil recording) ended up as the most played album on my Apple Music Replay that year.
Listening to a recording is always different to seeing a piece live, and similar to different productions of the same opera, there is some creative license to performing a symphonic concert. The performance at the Berlin Phil came with several surprises (to me), like including an offstage brass orchestra and placing other brass instruments throughout the auditorium for a mesmerizing 360 degree musical experience (the fourth movement was ethereal, as doors opened to the sound of the off-stage French horns).
For the final bars of the fifth movement, Mahler truly pulls all registers (pun intended), and at least from where I was sitting, Ticciati seemed able to harness everything that orchestra, soloists, choir, and organ had to offer. I have no authority to comment on the conducting or the interpretation of Mahler, but I appreciated and admired Ticciati’s ability to perceptibly uphold tension and attention throughout the entire performance: not just between the introductory a capella choir piece by Alma Mahler and then the symphony, but also across all five movements.
The buildup to the enormously grande finale is insane, and at the end music reverberated from all sides: orchestra in the front, choir to the sides, organ from the back. Chills! Ultimately, this concert was also a reminder of just how much more music is out there to be discovered live for the first time (I’ve only seen Mahler 2 and sung in Mahler 8–there are seven more!). On that note, LFG!!!
