Czech Philharmonic

Mahler’s epic Symphony No. 2 is a magnificent meditation on life, death, and the beyond. Scored for vocal soloists, chorus, organ, and colossal orchestra, its viscerally powerful music shapes a dramatic arc that begins with a funeral rite, looks back on life’s joys, aspires to the almighty in the gorgeous alto solo “Urlicht” ("Primal Light"), and is shattered by a depiction of the last judgment—including a harrowing march of the dead—before soaring heavenward in one of the most resplendent choral finales ever composed.

The English Concert

There are few sure things in the music world, but one notable exception has been the critically lauded Handel opera and oratorio performances by The English Concert conducted by Harry Bicket. This season they perform the sparkling oratorio Semele, a tale of a princess’s love affair with a god and her quest for immortality told in a stream of easy-flowing melodies and dazzling coloratura. Show-stopping arias include the title character’s florid “Endless pleasure, endless love” and touching “O sleep, why dost thou leave me,” and Jupiter’s “Where’er you walk”—a recital favorite to this day.

National Symphony Orchestra

Liszt vividly depicts episodes from Dante’s Inferno and Purgatory, while Rossini paints a portrait of a mother’s grief. The intense drama of Dante’s verse comes to life in Liszt’s spectacularly orchestrated descriptions of hell’s terrors and ethereal women’s choir intoning the Magnificat in the ascent to Purgatory. A masterpiece of 19th-century sacred music, Rossini’s setting of the Stabat Mater, the Virgin Mary’s lament at the cross of Jesus, moves with superb vocal writing, including the hair-raising “Inflammatus” for soprano and chorus, the tenor’s showpiece “Cujus animam,” and more.