Mahler’s Second Symphony charts a journey from funeral to rebirth, from the terrifying to the transcendent. Its indelible power was memorably captured in the 2023 film Maestro. Gustavo Dudamel, an ardent champion of Mahler, takes on this majestic work, featuring soprano Juliana Grigoryan, mezzo-soprano Beth Taylor, and the Los Angeles Master Chorale. “The effect is so great that one cannot describe it,” Mahler reflected of the symphony. “If I were to say what I think of this great work, it would sound too arrogant in a letter. … The whole thing sounds as though it came to us from some other world. I think there is no one who can resist it. One is battered to the ground and then raised on angel’s wings to the highest heights.”
This performance is generously supported by the Colburn Foundation.