Luogo e data di registrazione		Herkules-Saal. München (Germania) - febbraio & marzo 1969
	Registrazione: live / studio		studio
	Executive Producer		Wilfried Daenicke
	Recording Producer		Hans Weber
	Balance Engineer		Heinz Wildhagen
	Prima Edizione LP		Deutsche Grammophon - 139 332/33 - (2 LP's) - durata 40' 14" & 35' 58" - (p) 1969 - Analogico
	Prima Edizione CD		Deutsche Grammophon - 429 042-2 - (10 CD's - 2°) - (c) 1989 - ADD
	Note		Cover: Gustav Klimt "Der Kuss" (Detail), Österreichische Galerie Wien

The Second Symphony is, together with "Das Lied von der Erde", Mahler's most succesful and most frequently performed composition. He is said to have spent seven years working on this, is most popular Symphony, which also gave him the most trouble. As it was completed in 1894, its ideas must have been conceived while Mahler was still working on the First Symphony. There is in fact a close association of ideas between the two works, not only because here, as there, the flow of ideas strives towards transfiguration and brightness, but above all because each of the two works has as its starting point the lyrical world of song. Just as the First Symphony had its origins in the song cycle "Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen", individual movements of the Second, Third and Fourth Symphonies derive from settings of poems from "Des Knaben Wunderhorn". Despite this blood relationship, which is reflected in form and idea, both form and idea have undergone a significant evolution. In the First Symphony iy was the "beautiful world", the world of tangible things, however poetic they are, in whose certain possession the questing spirit rejoiced after overcoming all errors and perplexities. The Second Symphony strives towards the transcendental, a state of bliss to be attained only through overcoming and departing from the reality of the beautiful orld. "I shall die, that I may live" is its motto. In the First Symphony the melodies of songs appear in purely instrumental versions, but in the Second the words are introduced to enhance the expressiveness and meaning of the music. The first movement is in C minor, and the composer appears to have placed particular importance on the choice of this key, he assails the listener's cars with it so intensely and with such impassioned vehemence. It is Beethoven's C minor on which Mahler insists so emphatically, the C minor of Beethoven's "Destiny" Symphony, because the thoughts of destiny, fate, and carthly tragedy give this movement, too, its immense tension. From the formal viewpoint the opening movement of this Symphony is, perhaps, the most strictly organized which Mahler ever wrote. It is not difficult to recognize the principal features of classical sonata form - the solemn, sombre and threateningly rising principal subject, the slender, attractive form of the lyrical theme, the broadly conceived exposition of these two themes, the supplementary motives and motive links which draw them together, their dramatic confrontation in a mighty development section, whose culmination explodes in a triple forte and leads to the Recapitulation. The shortened form of the Recapitulation is, if anything, even more harsh and forthright than the Exposition: fate is relentless, this conclusion seems to say. The trumpets play a gentle C major chord, which seems to float in the air, as through trying to bring a note of consolation into the music, but the major third is pressed pitilessly down a semitone, so that C major becomes C minor, and the "destiny" key remains ruthlessly in command. The ideological connection between this movement and the remaining parts of the Symphony is unquestionable. Nevertheless these other movements belong to a different sphere, and before we enter in the composer asks for a break of a least five minutes, so that the tragic C minor which he has hammered into us can die away in our minds. After the first movement The four remaining movements of this five-movement work rise to progressively higher and freer regions of existence. The contrast between them and the first movement is enough in itself to create a sense of liberation. At the beginning of the graceful, dancelike and happily melodious Andante moderato the oppressive burden has been cast off for ever. Mahler wrote in a letter about his discovery of the "resurrection" verses by Klopstock which give the Finale, and thus the whole work, its meaning: "The last movement of my Secon Symphony meant so much to me that I searched through really the whole of the world's literature, right back to the Bible, trying to find the right words of release ... The manner in which I received the impulse for this has a profund bearing on the nature of artistic creation. At that time I had long carried within me the idea of introducing a chorus in the last movement, and only the fear that this would be considered a superficial imitation of Beethoven caused me to hesitate again and again. At that time Bülow die, and I attended his funeral here in Hamburg. The choir and organ intoned Klopstock's hymn "Auferstehen!" ("Rise up"). It struck me like a flash of lightning and everything was suddenly clear to my mind's eye. This lightning flash provided the impulse for the creative process - that is the divine conception of art. What I experienced then, I had to express in music. And yet if I had not already has this work within me - how could I have received that experience? There were thousands sitting with me in the church at that moment! That is what I always find: only when I experience do I compose - and when I compose I experience!" Although this statement of Mahler's suggests a speculative interpretation of his music, we should regard the speculation as no more than a general indication of the direction in which his thoughts were running. The artistic characteristics of the inner movements of the Second Symphony make them masterly examples of absolute music. They consist not of philosophical utterances but of spontaneous music making. The first of them is the charming A flat major Andante in three-eight time, a movement which cajoles the ear, a splendid example of virtuoso instrumentation and finely calculated musical relationships. This brilliant example of orchestral virtuosity is followed by a second, also in three-eight time. The key is again C minor, but it has nothing in common with the sombre C minor of the first movement. On the contrary, the way in which the timpani, bassoons and clarinets in their low register set the rhythm shows from the outset that this is a cheerful, witty scherzo in the minor. It is a symphonic augmentation of the "Wunderhorn" song about St. Anthony preaching to the fishes. The movement flows calmly along, without break or interruption, a perpetuum mobile rich in musical finesse and delights, and at the same time vividly illustrative, as we really seem to see the fishes swimming along, mouths open, to hear sermon. A fresh, happy-sounding Intermezzo is inserted, not interrupting the momentum but introducting a note of tender feeling. The sermon to the fishes is concerned with the senselessness of worldly desires and activities, but the heartfelt nature of this interlude restores meaning and significance to the whole. The fourth movement then follows - without any break, according to a diretion in the score. The instrumental paraphrase of the sermon to the fishes is followed by a setting of a "Wunderhorn" song which is profoundly meaningful both in its music and in the words of the poem. Words and music are of moving simplicity, having the deep meaning of childlike naivety. "I come from God, and to God will return" the soul sings at the gateway to heaven, not allowing itself to be turned away, confident in the knowledge that light - primeval light - has been granted to it. This creates a link with the idea underlying the fifth and last movement, which now follows, also without a break. We do not hear a triumphant finale to conclude the Symphony, but are witnesses to a musical drama in which the meaning of the Symphony is revealed. We hear mysterious fanfares from near and far, then passages of instrumental finale music; we hear the voice of the herald in the wilderness, and the shattering sounds of the great call. The resurrection hymn opens very softly, but gradually rises in power until it is an overwhelming manifestation of faith and confidence: "Ishall die, that I mau live." Heinrich Kralik