Mahler Symphony No, 8 on Blue Ray
Sun, Dec 18 2011, 1:22AM
The conductor is Riccardo Chailly of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, with eight soloists, four choruses and an enlarged orchestra including four harps. This may be the 8th version I have of the 8th symphony (CDs, DVDs and now Blue Ray). The performance is an excellent one as are many others (Bernstein, Bertini, Solti, among others). After all of this listening to this symphony, I still like it the least of all Mahler symphonies. There are sections that just don't do anything for me. I must say that I like all the other Mahler symphonies, having all of them at least eight times over. How do you feel about this work and Mahler in general? In my case it might be all the voices throughout the symphony with very little orchestra alone being heard. I do believe that Chailly gave it everything he had. He looked exhausted but then again, who wouldn't be. Any comments?
Sun, Dec 18 2011, 4:06PM
#2
RE: Mahler Symphony No, 8 on Blue Ray
Jesserj, I only have the Bernstein/VPO and the Boulez/Staatskapelle Berlin versions of this symphony (I prefer the Bernstein), and I've grown to like it a lot. But I don't care much about what the words are saying, or even what the overall religious/mystical meaning of the symphony, as envisioned by Mahler, purports to be: I just waft along with the music, which has many moments of tremendous power and sweep, marvellously contrasted with portions of immense delicacy. However, I have many more versions of symphonies nos. 1,2,3 and 5, since these are the ones which really make my hair stand on end.
I have this recording too (albeit it on DVD), and it's excellent, isn't it? It's the Mahler symphony I came to last, really, and I love it now - even though, to be honest, I'm not completely sure what it's saying. I suppose that does threaten to make me fit into that category of British listeners identified by Thomas Beecham: someone who doesn't really like music but loves the sound it makes! In some ways, though, I think you can listen to the symphony as if the voices are an extension of the orchestral sound. There are perhaps a few key passages, especially towards the end, but I rarely feel I should be following and understanding the text line-by-line.
And as to what it's about, well, I'm sure others will have ideas. For me it seems to be a reflection on what makes life possible and grand - creativity and love (Alma again!). Already though there's the sense of Mahler beginning to look beyond: there are plenty of shadows here (including the biggest orchestra-alone passage at the start of Part 2), and for all the hugeness of the forces involved, some very transparent, simple and airborne music as transcendence is looked for at the end. It's the flipside, perhaps, of Das Lied von der Erde.
John