VoxCarnyx

Glasgow Royal Concert Hall

Thomas Søndergård began his Mahler cycle with the RSNO six years ago at the start of his musical directorship with the orchestra. To open his seventh season with the epic Second Symphony, the Resurrection, was not only to sustain the fascination of that project, but to take it to a new elevated level, assisted by an expanded RSNO complete with offstage band, an RSNO Chorus singing with impassioned confidence, especially the men, and two soloists well cast for their their transcendent roles in the closing movements.

Foremost in this compelling performance was Søndergård’s unwavering attention to detail. The very opening – its ominous death rattles offset by an unfolding translucence as gathering motives found their conversant voice – was awash with irresistible expectancy from which unfolded the volcanic drama of the extensive first movement. Feverish contrasts, precipitous climaxes, howls of despair and the ultimate resignation ensued, purposeful to the end. And there was so much more to come.

For the Andante moderato Søndergård engineered a more reflective tenderness, its leisurely  succulence nudged tellingly by wry interjections, turning to sinister irony in the scherzo-like third movement, only to be magically quelled by the ethereal purity of Urlicht. Here, once again, steely discipline from the orchestra translated into an exquisiteness to cushion the molten mezzo-soprano of Linda Watson. There was one unfortunate moment when her pitch wavered perilously, but not so much as to diminish the overarching magic.

Where death occupied the start of this symphony, light and hope erupted in the Finale. From the chorus Søndergård elicited a haunting motto voce optimism, powerfully homogenous, richly expressive as it opened up. When soprano Julie Roset emerged, climbing above the chorus, it was like a voice from another world. Where there was clamour, the added offstage onslaught provided a momentous thrill. The hymn-like brass were like a halo of religiosity; the final climax, with organ thundering, a towering and overwhelming catharsis. 

Not without justification, this capacity Glasgow audience leapt immediately to its feet.

Ken Walton