Mahler: Symphony No. 8

Mahler: Symphony No. 8

Mahler: Symphony No. 8
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Performer: John Shirley-Quirk
Composer: Gustav Mahler
Conductor: Georg Solti
Orchestra: Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Performer: Heather Harper
Performer: Lucia Popp
Performer: René Kollo
Edition: Music CD
Format: Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 2006-06-13
Music Label: Decca
Soundtracks:
  1. Veni, Creator Spiritus
  2. Imple Superna Gratia
  3. Infirma Nostri Corporis
  4. Accende Lumen Sensibus
  5. Veni, Creator Spiritus
  6. Gloria Patri Domino
  7. Poco Adagio - Waldung, Sie Schwankt Heran
  8. Ewiger Wonnebrand
  9. Wie Felsenabgrund Mir Zu Fuben
  10. Gerettet ist Das Edle Glied
  11. Uns Bleibt Ein Erdenrest - Hier Ist Die Aussicht Frei
  12. Hochste Herrscherin Der Welt - Dir, Der Unberuhrbaren
  13. Bei Der Liebe, Die Den Fuben
  14. Neige, Neige, Du Ohnegleiche
  15. Blicket Auf Zum Retterblick
  16. Alles Vergangliche

Music reviews of Mahler: Symphony No. 8

Music Review: Solti guides us through the most dramatic Mahler symphony, and it's the closest we'll get to a Mahler opera!
Rating: 5 Stars

This is obviously a piece of music which engenders passionate responses in anyone who hears it, and that passion spills over into the discussions about the various performances, too.

Prior to the 80s, a frequent assessment of Solti held that he was a fierce conductor who often lacked nuance. I agree with the fierce, but only partly with the lack of nuance. I think that Solti was one of our greatest conductors because he tirelessly worked at finding the right way to shape complex melodic lines and counterpoint. This performance is one of his greatest results. He guides us through Mahler's complex and dramatic music.

With the massive opening of the 1st movement, I feel Mahler himself sets the tone for a driving, volcanic experience meant to sweep listeners along in waves of sound and feeling. But the work is also informed with a symphonic framework that is worked out ingeniously, giving rise to its wonderful variety of mood from a small number of melodic motifs. I believe Solti takes his cue from these motifs (some comprised of only 2 or 3 notes!), successfully achieving a simultaneous sense of musical integration and operatic drama. Which was what Mahler was after, I believe.

Perhaps the most obvious example of this is at the opening of the long 2nd movement (track 7). Solti's hair-trigger tension has bite and seems to be exactly what Mahler is calling for. With violins playing a suspensefully sustained tremolo, the basses and cellos pluck a 7-note melody which I think is actually 3 small motifs that Mahler will develop singly and in combinations throughout the whole 2nd part. 2 descending notes, followed by 3 rising notes, followed by 2 descending notes (the 3 rising notes actually part of one of the main melodies from the 1st movement!). Later, there is a 4-note motif that plays counterpoint to that; 2 ascending notes followed by two descending notes. This motif is very noticeable in the gentle "lullaby" section, only to become the massive concluding "Ewig, Ewig!" I'm not a trained musicologist, but I can hear this music being woven in various guises, sometimes reversed, sometimes played slower or separately or in combinations. And so it seems to me Solti paid *particular* attention to these small elements as guides throughout; what to accurately accentuate (so we can identify the motifs) and when to allow himself more or less nuance. The same is true for the amazing 1st movement.

This 2nd movement, which began in hushed suspense, ends in a massive crescendo of the 4-note motif, and the gates of heaven opening, as it were, to the 7-note motif, now fanfared by the trumpets, followed by echos of the opening of the first movement played out across the entire orchestra and the offstage brass choirs, tying the whole thing together! I'd never really been able to piece it together until I heard the Solti recording, the details jumped out at me, and the performance has the atmosphere of an important event!

With respect to the sound quality, although made in the early 70's, this has always been a demonstration recording. It does not quite equal the newest digital recordings (like Chailly's), but it is still excellent and handles loud and quiet passages amazingly well. Some reviewers here have mentioned Solti's recordings of Wagner's Ring operas. It is worth noting that, of all the Solti/Chicago Mahler recordings, only this one was made in the same hall (the Sofiensaal in Vienna) as those Ring recordings. It seems that location is ideal for large orchestral works - reproducing massive sound as well as important details. It is hugely successful in this recording. The orchestral sound is sumptuous. The sound of the Chicago Symphony brass, french horns especially, is awesome, in the true meaning of the word, they inspire awe!

The singers were all opera stars at the heights of their careers. All the four sopranos soar beautifully, in conjunction with the large choral moments as well as in their solos. Kollo has just the right balance of lyricism and strength for this part. Talvela is terrific, at once powerful and plaintiff in accordance with the music. The soloists are placed a bit forward, but not too forward. It allows us to hear them in the massive choral parts. They are the best team of soloists compared to any other recording.

I have heard many recordings (Tennstedt, Bernstein, Haitink, Abravanel, and Chailly) and seen several live performances of this symphony. Tennstedt's EMI recording comes very close, but I think Solti's conducting really guides us through Mahler's complex, integrated, dramatic music. And it gives us some idea of what it would have been like had Mahler written an opera.
More Mahler: Symphony No. 8 free music reviews:
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