NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra / Semyon Bychkov

Date & Time

Sun, Apr 14, 2024, 17:00

Venue

Any talk about Gustav Mahler’s monumental vocal symphony No. 8 features one superlative after another: the commonly used nickname »Symphony of a Thousand« – not of the composer’s invention, incidentally – already points the way. Mahler himself called his biggest-scale work »the greatest thing I have ever written«, and he certainly wasn’t just referring to the huge body of some 500 participants, which includes several choirs, a huge orchestra and eight soloists. First and foremost, the composer was aiming at... Read full text

Keywords: Symphony Concert, Vocal Music

Info & Ticket (www.elbphilharmonie.de)

Musicians

NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester
NDR Vokalensemble
Rundfunkchor Berlin
Prager Philharmonischer Chor
Knabenchor Hannover
Carolyn Sampson	Soprano
Camilla Tilling	Soprano
Miriam Kutrowatz	Soprano
Stefanie Irányi	Mezzo-Soprano
Jennifer Johnston	Mezzo-Soprano
Andreas Schager	Tenor
Adam Plachetka	Bass
Nathan Berg	Bass
Lukáš Vasilek	Choir rehearsal
Semyon Bychkov	Conductor

Program

Symphony No. 8 for three soprano solos, two alto solos, tenor solo, baritone solo, bass solo, children’s chorus, two mixed choruses and large orchestra

Gustav Mahler

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Last update: Thu, Nov 21, 2024, 15:06

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Whenever there is mention of Gustav Mahler’s monumental Symphony No. 8, the superlatives begin to fly. The common epithet »Symphony of a Thousand« – which did not originate from the composer – already gives a taste of this. Mahler himself described his largest-scale choral work as »the greatest thing I have ever done«. And he certainly wasn’t just referring to the gigantic apparatus of some 500 performers, which required not only a huge orchestra and numerous choirs but also no less than eight soloists. It was, above all, a tremendous spiritual and religious quality that Mahler associated with this symphony. The passages he chose for inspiration were no less than the holy of holies of German national literature, the final scene from Goethe’s Faust II, and the time-honoured Pentecost hymn »Veni, creator spiritus«. Its premiere on 12 September 1910 was an overwhelming success. Even the great Thomas Mann was incredibly impressed, writing a letter of thanks to the composer, referring to him as »the man who, as I believe, expresses the art of our time in its profoundest and most sacred form.« To this day, performances of Mahler’s Eighth remain a rare spectacle. After all, it is not every day that you have top ensembles like the Prague Philharmonic Choir, the Rundfunkchor Berlin, the NDR Vokalensemble, the Knabenchor Hannover and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra come together with a first-class octet of soloists! And it is not everywhere that the stage can accommodate everyone, but this is no problem in the Elbphilharmonie Grand Hall. After his acclaimed performances of the Symphony No. 3 with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, the star conductor Semyon Bychkov now continues his Mahler series, bringing the greatest that the classical and romantic repertoire has to offer to the podium.

Info (www.elbphilharmonie.de)