Symphony season ends with dynamic Mahler

Over the course of 80 minutes of music, delicate jests and pointed satire punctuate some of the composer’s most fervent explorations of death and redemption.

The Second Symphony, dubbed “Resurrection” (though not by the composer himself), frames a massive drama that spans five movements.

Death is the focus of the first, one of the composer’s most fiery, funereal creations, while the vocal conclusion — beginning with a radiant solo for mezzo-soprano and leading into the triumphal choral hymn that gives the symphony its sobriquet — transmutes that energy into transcendence.

In between came vibrant musical episodes — the lofty ascent of the main theme, the intricate instrumental counterpoint that runs through so much of Mahler’s work — and these were set in their courses with impeccable flair.

The matched set of concluding movements was inaugurated by a breathtakingly fine account of “Urlicht” by mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor, singing with ravishingly velvet vocal tone and an astonishing ability to sustain the song’s long, ardent phrases.

Soprano Karina Gauvin brought forthright eloquence to her assignment, and Ragnar Bohlin’s Symphony Chorus made an excellent contribution — hushed and shapely in their opening moments, then growing to seraphic splendor at the climax.