Thu, 26 Sep 2024, 18:00
Price:
16.10 €
Performers:
LIEUTHOVA STATE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Artistic Director and Chief Conductor Gintaras Rinkevičius
Kaunas State Choir
Artistic Director and Chief Conductor Gintaras Rinkevičius
Caunas State Choir. Conductor Robertas Šervenikas
Soloists:
IEVA BARBORA JUOZAPAITYTĖ (soprano)
JUSTINA GRINGYTĖ (mezzo-soprano)
Conductor GINTARAS RINKEVIČIUS
Program:
Gustav Mahler - Symphony No. 2 in C minor, "Resurrection"
The Kaunas State Philharmonic will welcome the new autumn season with a monumental work by the Austrian composer Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) - the Symphony No. 2 ("Resurrection").
This one of the world's most brilliant symphonic works, both musically and philosophically, which beautifully conveys the epic theme of death and resurrection, will be performed by the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra conducted by Gintaras Rinkevičius, the Kaunas State Choir, and soloists Ieva Barbora Juozapaitytė and Justina Gringytė.
About the parallels between the music of the Second Symphony and real life, Mahler wrote: "When the idea of the work was being developed, it was important for me to convey not the event itself, but at best a feeling. The idea of the work is clearly expressed in the words of the final chorus.
The symphony was first performed in Berlin in 1895 under the composer's baton.Mahler prepared carefully for the premiere, even going to Grunewald himself to have a master bell-maker make the right bells to crown the work's resurrection message. In a letter, the composer wrote: "I have to hammer out the celestial warriors... It is impossible to put it into words (otherwise I simply wouldn't write any music), but as soon as you get close to that place in the last movement, perhaps you will remember these words and everything will become clear."
The symphony's grand finale with chorus and soloists brings the work closer to Ludwig van Beethoven's 9th Symphony. It is in the finale that Mahler answers the symphony's central question of what is the meaning of life with the crowning words, "I will die to live!"