The Liceu celebrates the Millennium of Montserrat with Mahler's Second Symphony, one of the most striking creations in the history of music, conducted by Josep Pons with the Orchestra and Chorus of the Liceu at the Basilica of Montserrat.
With his Second Symphony (1894), Gustav Mahler created one of the most colossal works in the history of music: rich and full of contrasts, it brings together, like few other works, such an extensive palette of emotions that we could call it a compendium of feelings.
To achieve this, Mahler combines soloists, chorus, and orchestra with music of dramatic scale. After the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth, it’s worth noting that once the composer from Bonn had passed away, everyone felt the shadow of his creations (especially his symphonies; think of Brahms!), and no one dared to compose in this genre. However, Mahler ambitiously proposed a Second Symphony that went even further: to date, no one had conceived a work so gigantic in terms of musicians, so extensive (around eighty minutes and five movements), so colorful, with such a profoundly moving narrative, and with an unprecedented dramatic scale.
In a way, it represented the journey of the soul from death to resurrection: an unparalleled and raw experience of extraordinary power.
Josep Pons, a former choirboy of Montserrat and a devoted advocate of Mahler, is one of the few conductors invited by Universal Edition, the publisher of Gustav Mahler’s music, to revise its new editions, identifying more than five hundred errors, alongside Abbado, Mehta, Barenboim, Boulez, Dudamel, Gergiev, Jansons, and Rattle.
As a kind of musical metaphor, Pons, leading the stable musical ensembles of the Gran Teatre del Liceu, has included this Resurrection in the Millennium celebrations of Montserrat Monastery: a thousand years of history have made the Benedictine monastery much more than an abbey situated on a mountain. It is a monastery that has achieved a dimension that ranges from the symbolism of guarding the Virgin of Montserrat, patroness of Catalonia, to a significant contribution in areas such as culture, language, and, especially, music.
Music is precisely one of the fields where Montserrat has made a historical contribution, and it is one of the essential elements of the commemorations hosted by the monastery this year.
Guided by Pons, we reach the culmination of the final movement with Klopstock’s triumphant hymn: “With the wings I have gained, I shall rise. I shall die to live! You will rise again, yes, rise again, my heart, in an instant! Everything you have suffered will lead you to God!”
After a long inquiry into life and death, resurrection triumphs, leaving the listener in shock.
Can we dream of a more beautiful apotheosis? Can the fear of mortality be overcome?
Concert Information:
When: September 6, 2025
Time: 9:00 PM
Where: Basilica of Montserrat
Tickets: Access to the concert by invitation only
