Saturday, October 5, 2024
8:00 PM
Mahler’s Eighth Symphony, the so-called “Symphony of a Thousand,” for eight soloists, large chorus, children’s chorus, organ, and orchestra, was the composer’s most ambitious work musically and philosophically. By uniting two poems in two different languages, the Latin hymn “Veni, creator spiritus” and the redemptive final scene of German Goethe’s Faust, Mahler strives to express the widest possible scope of spiritual optimism.
Andris Nelsons, conductor
Latonia Moore, soprano 1
Christine Goerke, soprano 2
Ying Fang, soprano 3
Mihoko Fujimura, mezzo-soprano 1
Gerhild Romberger, mezzo-soprano 2
Andreas Schager, tenor
Michael Nagy, baritone
Ryan Speedo Green, bass-baritone
Tanglewood Festival Chorus
James Burton, conductor
Boys of the St. Paul’s Choir School
Brandon Straub, Music Director
Gustav MAHLER Symphony No. 8 (translation)
This concert is no longer available on demand.
See the Boston Symphony's program notes for this concert.
In a conversation with CRB's Brian McCreath, Music Director Andris Nelsons described the ways Mahler's Symphony No. 8 reflects the composer's and his own values. To listen, use the player above, and read the transcript below.
INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT (edited for clarity):
Brian McCreath When I talked with Tony Fogg, your colleague, artistic planner for the BSO, last season, he said, “When we went into the planning for this season, and we talked about what Andris would want to do to celebrate a decade with the Boston Symphony, he immediately said, ‘Mahler 8.’” And there's any number of reasons why anyone would want to do Mahler 8, but it is rare, I'm sure because it just takes so many people to play it. And it is a massively difficult piece. But tell me why Mahler 8 felt to you like a piece that you really wanted the BSO to do for this particular season. I'm sure some of it is just because it's so spectacular, it's so unusual and so rare to be able to pull it off. But also the theme of it is just so joyful and so loving. And I kind of wonder from your mind what it was about Mahler 8 that made you immediately say to Tony, "This is what I'd love to do."
Andris Nelsons Firstly, I'm very excited and very thankful for our team to plan this symphony and to program it. And it's not a piece which is very often performed. And one of the reasons simply is because it's so huge. And that's also one of the reasons why I wanted in a way to do it. Firstly, we have this amazing hall, Boston Symphony Hall, which has space for putting the musicians on the stage and space to put two choruses and eight soloists, and a band and the children's chorus. So it requires a lot of people, and its story, having the first half being so religious in part one and part two based on, of course, Goethe's Faust, which is an expression of love through the secular work of art, it's so glorifying in both of the parts. And it uses the full orchestra and these two choruses and so many soloists. So, from one side, there's some moments where we come together, and we want to perform something where we can involve almost everyone, to be as a big team and big family together. And of course, Mahler's 8th Symphony allows us very much to come all of the orchestra together fully with the even necessity to arrange extra players because it's such a big orchestra. And of course, having a chorus. But even that's not enough without extras, so basically a very big sized chorus and our children's chorus as well. And of course really masterful soloists because the parts are equally for everyone, for orchestra, for soloists, for the chorus are very challenging. It requires a very high technical abilities and professional abilities to use your voice. And it's also challenging for the conductor in a sense, because Mahler's joining these forces together. In a certain sense it is oratorio, it's operatic in a way, and it has this idea of the drama as well.
And also, I must say, I have done the Mahler 8th Symphony several times, and Mahler cycles in total several times. So I'm really regularly in my life closely in touch with Mahler's music, and thinking about and analyzing and living this music. And I must say that, looking more and more in the context, I always find somehow different feeling towards what each of the symphonies could have meant for Mahler and his certain periods of life. And these questions about, what does the 8th mean, why is it so almost exaggerated? And then I was thinking it's not so straightforward. I think it's not only that he wanted something huge where everyone was glorifying life. I think when he got to this in his life, he was aware that his life is not going to be a long one. And then looking from that perspective as well, he say, "Please. I'll give everything. I want to live. Tell me what is wrong? What I'm doing wrong? What can I do to have more time?".
So therefore, I think the 8th Symphony is not only glorifying a kind of idea of together we come, although I think at the end it is that, that we all come together. We are aware that we cannot necessarily change the destiny or to influence some things in life. But we are confident and sure that by coming together, showing how important the love, expression of love, humanity is, whatever happens in our lives, whatever happens in the world. And we constantly go through the challenges, and we look to the world, any direction you look, there are so many tragedies and so many disasters happening. And we want to be able to change. We want to be able to influence things. But I think we can do it by believing strongly in our values. And by performing, I think, these great pieces of music, and in this case, Mahler's 8th Symphony, we come together and we say, "Yes, it's certainly not right what's happening around, but we want to believe that there is a way.".
Somehow the 8th is not only glorifying, but it's actually bringing everyone together because we want to come together to share. And maybe this togetherness helps us to overcome many things. We want to be able to do something for humanity, but we sometimes don't know what exactly we should do. But I think by doing such a piece as Mahler's 8th Symphony, or coming and listening and joining, because I think in this symphony as in any actually music or concert, the audience has an equally important part of the performance.
Brian McCreath Thank you so much. Those are beautiful thoughts. I love the way that you're framing this and thinking about Mahler 8 In relation to your time at the BSO, the BSO family, and the audience that's with us, and what it all means to make this piece one of the centerpieces of this season. So, Andris, it's always great to talk with you. Thank you for your time again today.
Andris Nelsons Thank you. Thank you. Great pleasure. Thank you.