07/10/2026
Over two evenings on 24 and 25 October 2024, the Orchestre National de France under its music director, Cristian Măcelaru, immersed themselves in the extraordinary symphonic epic that Gustav Mahler wrote in the 1890s: his utterly unrestrained Symphony No. 2, "Resurrection." What a baptism of fire! The Romanian conductor, not known for his Mahler until now, boldly takes up, in Paris, the very same score that the legendary Leonard Bernstein conducted at his first great Parisian triumph on 13 November 1958—which, as it happens, was also with the Orchestre National. More than 70 years after Bernstein, Cristian Măcelaru offers a vision that is the complete opposite, with a chamber-like approach of delicacy and pastoral warmth, in contrast to his illustrious predecessor’s grandiose and solemn take. The textures are therefore amazingly light: the magnificent transparency of the strings is answered by woodwinds brimming with freshness, discreetly revealing the roots of a composer born not far from Prague who was passionately drawn to new sonorities and unexpected instrumental blends. Under the Romanian conductor’s direction, joined here by the luminous soprano Hanna-Elisabeth Müller and the amber-toned mezzo Karen Cargill, the passionate journey of Resurrection becomes one of profound serenity. The architecture of the work remains consistently natural and supple, and the symphony finds its unity effortlessly despite the remarkable diversity of soundscapes of which it is made. It was in 1888 that Gustav Mahler first conceived the large-scale symphonic piece he called Todtenfeier (Funeral Rites), in which he portrays, from the height of a steep promontory, the entire life of the hero of his First Symphony, the Titan. Slightly revised, this became the introductory Allegro maestoso of the Second Symphony, to which Mahler later added four more movements. The second takes the form of a shimmering Ländler, deceptively gracious, with interwoven motifs. The third is a scherzo based on his song Des Antonius von Padua Fischpredigt ("St. Anthony of Padua Preaching to the Fishes", No. 6 from Des Knaben Wunderhorn). For the fourth movement, the composer draws on another song from Des Knaben Wunderhorn, No. 12, Urlicht ("Primeval Light"), preserving the vocal line while altering some of the orchestration and harmonic progressions. Gustav Mahler searched a long time for inspiration for the Finale, finding it eventually while listening to a choir sing a hymn during the funeral of the great conductor Hans von Bülow. The hymn was based on words by the poet Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, and Mahler resolved then and there to conclude his work with this hymn to resurrection, supplementing Klopstock’s text with several verses of his own. Overall, then, Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 opens with a meditation on death and moves steadily through earthly life in all its tenderness and irony to a proclamation of faith in the resurrection—the sole subject of the Finale—in which soloists, chorus, and orchestra come together in a glorious gesture of reconciliation. Available now at www.isotopemusic.com
