The Philadelphia Orchestra Perform Mahler at Carnegie Hall
- Details
- Parent Category: Film and the Arts
- Category: Reviews
- Published on Thursday, 12 March 2026 13:32
- Written by Jack Angstreich
Photo by Chris Lee
At the wonderful Stern Auditorium, on the night of Tuesday, March 10th, I had the enormous privilege to attend a magnificent concert—presented by Carnegie Hall—played by the sterling musicians of the Philadelphia Orchestra, under the inspired leadership of Yannick Nézet-Séguin. It consisted of a powerful performance of Gustav Mahler’s monumental Symphony No. 2 in C Minor, the “Resurrection,” which was completed in 1894, and here also featured the extraordinary Philadelphia Symphonic Choir, directed by Joe Miller, along with two incredible soloists, soprano Ying Fang and mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato.
The initial, Allegro maestoso movement begins suspensefully, quickly building in intensity but with subdued episodes, and gradually acquiring a more affirmative character at times but with flashes of darkness; the more portentous music of the opening returns, leading to a highly turbulent section that climaxes very forcefully. Again, the thematic material from the introduction recurs along with music of a more æthereal quality. Once more, ominous motifs from the start are recapitulated but the movement then briefly assumes a more positive valence before it finishes abruptly.
The succeeding Andante moderato has a gentler, waltz-like ethos on the whole, but a sense of greater urgency moves to the fore more than once before it concludes very quietly. The scherzo it precedes is not unexpectedly playful, if with some slightly sinister measures, and has a driving rhythm; more celebratory music intrudes before a much dreamier interlude, after which a dance-like episode ensues, followed by moments of agitation as well as serenity—this movement also closes suddenly.
The penultimate movement, titled “Urlicht,” is a heavenly, immensely beautiful song, set to a poem from Des Knaben Wunderhorn; it too is over surprisingly fast. The Finale starts with sounds of tumult and then much more irenic music; a muted series of fanfares ushers in a more premonitory sequence before a chorale-like segment that rapidly becomes stirring and then subsides. After this, an extended, very tempestuous episode inaugurates another set of fanfares and then the entry of the chorus singing celestial music—based on a text by Friedrich Klopstock—along with the exalting contribution of the soprano and then too the mezzo-soprano. In quasi-Wagnerian fashion, the movement concludes joyously and transcendently.
With perfect justice, the artists received a standing ovation.