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Symphony No. 2 is Gustav Mahler’s most majestic and comprehensive composition. Christoph Eschenbach leads the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and soloists in a piece that portrays life itself, and its most fundamental existential questions: a depiction of the human journey from death and despair to rebirth and love. A symphony in which art and life converge, which is probably why it affects us with such great force.

Mahler was fascinated by questions of metaphysics, the cosmos, religious issues and existentialism. He was constantly engaging with thoughts of the meaning of life and the paradox of death, and this symphony is a magnificent and grandiose musical manifestation of his conceptions of life, death and rebirth. It is also referred to as the Resurrection Symphony.

To re-create his visions of all states and emotions of life, Mahler has used an enormous orchestra, choir, and soprano and alto soloists. Two dramatic outer movements enclose the more exhilarated middle movements. The first movement is a dramatic burial that is a sharp contrast to the second movement’s light-hearted andante. The sharp reverberation of the timpani that launches the third movement suddenly breaks the pleasant mood. As uncertainty expands, humour, a sense of triumph and seriousness follow one another in a stream.

In the fourth movement, Urlicht (Primal Light), we hear a sublimely beautiful alto solo, with lyrics from the folk song collection Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Boy’s Magic Horn), which had deeply impacted Mahler. The choir is first heard in the last movement and we are carried upward, toward a higher heavenly sphere.

Symphony No. 2 is Gustav Mahler’s most majestic and comprehensive composition. Christoph Eschenbach leads the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and soloists in a piece that portrays life itself, and its most fundamental existential questions: a depiction of the human journey from death and despair to rebirth and love. A symphony in which art and life converge, which is probably why it affects us with such great force.

Mahler was fascinated by questions of metaphysics, the cosmos, religious issues and existentialism. He was constantly engaging with thoughts of the meaning of life and the paradox of death, and this symphony is a magnificent and grandiose musical manifestation of his conceptions of life, death and rebirth. It is also referred to as the Resurrection Symphony.

To re-create his visions of all states and emotions of life, Mahler has used an enormous orchestra, choir, and soprano and alto soloists. Two dramatic outer movements enclose the more exhilarated middle movements. The first movement is a dramatic burial that is a sharp contrast to the second movement’s light-hearted andante. The sharp reverberation of the timpani that launches the third movement suddenly breaks the pleasant mood. As uncertainty expands, humour, a sense of triumph and seriousness follow one another in a stream.

In the fourth movement, Urlicht (Primal Light), we hear a sublimely beautiful alto solo, with lyrics from the folk song collection Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Boy’s Magic Horn), which had deeply impacted Mahler. The choir is first heard in the last movement and we are carried upward, toward a higher heavenly sphere.

Elegance and refinement, along with restlessness and worry, characterise Mozart’s Symphony No. 40, composed in the summer of 1788. He had financial worries; his wife Constanze was ill; and the opera Don Giovanni had not been especially successful at the Vienna Opera. He withdrew and over the course of nine weeks, he composed his three greatest and most accomplished symphonies. The fortieth is the second of the three, and one of only two of all his symphonic works in a minor key.

In the piece Accused (2014), with extravagant colours and contrast, Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg has created a fascinating world of sound that tells the story of three historic interrogations. The lyrics are excerpts from the interrogations of Théroigne de Méricourt during the French Revolution; the interrogation by East Germany’s security police, the Stasi, of residents during the Cold War; and finally, the trial of Bradley Manning (now Chelsea Manning).

Together with Esa-Pekka Salonen and Kaija Saariaho, Magnus Lindberg is among the trendsetting group of Finnish musicians and composers who became known in the 1970s and 80s. The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra’s chief conductor Sakari Oramo and soprano Anu Komsi are also among these incredibly prominent Finnish names in music.

Elegance and refinement, along with restlessness and worry, characterise Mozart’s Symphony No. 40, composed in the summer of 1788. He had financial worries; his wife Constanze was ill; and the opera Don Giovanni had not been especially successful at the Vienna Opera. He withdrew and over the course of nine weeks, he composed his three greatest and most accomplished symphonies. The fortieth is the second of the three, and one of only two of all his symphonic works in a minor key.

In the piece Accused (2014), with extravagant colours and contrast, Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg has created a fascinating world of sound that tells the story of three historic interrogations. The lyrics are excerpts from the interrogations of Théroigne de Méricourt during the French Revolution; the interrogation by East Germany’s security police, the Stasi, of residents during the Cold War; and finally, the trial of Bradley Manning (now Chelsea Manning).

Together with Esa-Pekka Salonen and Kaija Saariaho, Magnus Lindberg is among the trendsetting group of Finnish musicians and composers who became known in the 1970s and 80s. The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra’s chief conductor Sakari Oramo and soprano Anu Komsi are also among these incredibly prominent Finnish names in music.