OF LOVE, DEATH AND BEYOND
Exploring Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony

A film by Jason Starr
Narrated by Thomas Hampson

Monday, May 16 at 6:30 PM
Boulder Public Library Main – Canyon Theater
Free – Open Seating

To order a DVD of this film, click on the image above.

When composing his Second Symphony, Gustav Mahler famously posed the questions “What is this life—and death? Is there for us, a continuation? Is all this only an empty dream, or does this life and this death have a meaning?” Narrated by Thomas Hampson, this one‐hour documentary explores the biographical, musical and philosophical background of this monumental and exhilarating masterpiece.

Many people have interpreted the symphony as a depiction of a conventional religious account of the afterlife. But as the film shows, Mahler was developing his own rich ideas about life and death that do not correspond to established dogmas. Reviled by the critics after its first performance, the Second Symphony of Gustav Mahler has become one of the most celebrated masterpieces of its epoch.

Shot on location in Germany, Austria, Italy and the United States, the film includes historical reenactments and interviews with many of the world’s most respected Mahler scholars and biographers including Henry‐Louis de La Grange, Donald Mitchell, Morten Solvik, Renate Stark‐Voit, Stephen Hefling and Peter Franklin. Philosopher Martha Nussbaum and theologians Catherine Keller and Neil Gillman also add their insights. Weaving through the documentary is a critically acclaimed performance of the work, created especially for the film, featuring musicians from the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Detroit Symphony and other ensembles and under the direction of maestro Neeme Järvi.

Order the film and the full concert performance on a two DVD set and support MahlerFest at the same time by clicking here. In April, MahlerFest presented Jason Starr’s latest film that explores a symphony by Mahler.  To read about Everywhere and Forever – Mahler’s Song of the Earth, click here.

Mahler plays for Hans von Bülow

An Alpine funeral