Symphony No. 2, in C minor
(The Resurrection)
Ilona Steingruber (soprano)
Hilde Roesst-Majdan (contralto)
Vienna Academy Chamber Choir
Choral Society of Friends of Music, Vienna
Vienna Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Otto Klemperer
Mahler's Second Symphony has five movements. The first and last bear the main weight of the structure, the middle three are shorter and more lightly scored. The third, the Scherzo, is based on one of Mahler's own songs; the fourth is a setting for the contralto 'soloist of a poem called Urlicht (Primeval Light); and the finale has a long orchestral introduction which leads to a setting of Klopstock's ode ' Resurrection.' Harold Rutland