For this fourth volume of their complete recording of Mahler’s symphonies, Paavo Järvi and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich present a monumental work: Symphony No. 2, with its five movements and colossal orchestra, complemented by a choir and soloists: “Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 is a gigantic work — both in substance and in scale”, says Paavo Järvi.

Mahler completed the composition in 1894, after more than six years of work, at a time when, whilst he was certainly regarded as a great conductor, his life was difficult: he had lost his father, mother and sister Leopoldine in quick succession – suddenly finding himself responsible for his brothers and sisters – his first symphony had not been well received, and he was the target of an anti-Semitic press campaign in Budapest, where he had been director of the Royal Opera from 1888 to 1891. In a letter dated 1896, Mahler wrote: “When you wake from this melancholy dream and have to return to life and its chaos, it can easily happen that this ceaselessly moving, never resting and always incomprehensible bustle of life becomes horrifying to you…"