Mahler
Symphony No. 8 in E-flat major (‘Symphony of a Thousand')
It is a cause for celebration for any conductor and any orchestra when they get the chance to perform Mahler’s Eighth Symphony in front of an audience: the world premiere of the work, conducted by Mahler himself, employed more than a thousand participants on stage. Although the composer never embraced the name ‘Symphony of a Thousand’, this phrase still captures something of the extraordinary dimensions of the composition. As the composer himself put it, it was “the most magnificent of anything I have yet written. The work is so unique in terms of content and form that it is impossible to speak of it.”
Austrian composer Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 in E-flat major was premiered in 1910. Its admirers hail the piece as one of the greatest musical works of all time. Due to the large number of singers, some classify it as a cantata. As the composer wrote to the legendary conductor Willem Mengelberg, “All my other symphonies have been merely preludes to this one. The other symphonies are filled with individual tragedy – but this one flows with nothing but joy. (…) It is the most magnificent of anything I have yet written. The work is so unique in terms of content and form that it is impossible to speak of it. It seems as if the entire universe begins to sound and ring. It is not just human voices singing, but the planets rotating and the sun…” And it is worth noting how Mahler closed these lines to Mengelberg: “I shall tell you the rest in person.”
Presented by: Hungarian Radio Art Groups
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