Symphony of a Thousand

Finally a Mahler symphony finds its' way off the shelf and it happens to be the 8th. Performed by the Philharmonia Orchestra and Guiseppe Sinopoli with the Southend Boys Choir and solo singers Cheryl Studer, Angela Maria Blasi, Sumi Jo, Waltraud Meier, Kaziko Nagai, Keith Lewis, Thomas Allen and Hans Sotin. Massive seems to be a word often associated with Mahler's symphonies and in this case it is apt. The premiere is said to have had 858 singers and 171 instrumentalists, truly a symphony of a thousand which the 8th is now often called. Slightly smaller forces here but impressive enough. The symphony sets two texts in long movements. The first movement is drawn from a 9th century hymn for pentecost and is sung in latin and the second movement sets the close of Goethe's Faust, sung in German, where Faust receives his undeserved salvation. There's so much to absorb and consider in a work of this ambition; the juxtaposition of the texts and what sort of vision it represents, the place of the work in german culture, the timing in Mahler's life when he only had a matter of months left to live. Of necessity, the recording stretches over two cd's and they also decided to include a performance of the adagio from Mahler's unfinished tenth symphony. I have a seperate recording of the completion of an entire attempt at the tenth by Deryck Cooke and so will post about that when that disk takes its' turn. Suffice it to say that it seems a little unnecessary to have it with this release, the 8th is more than enough to be going on with by itself.