Name: Bernstein conducts Mahler: Symphony No. 8
Start: 1975-09-01T00:00:00.000Z
End: 1975-09-03T00:00:00.000Z
Location: Wiener Konzerthaus

Organization

Conductor

Leonard Bernstein

Singer

Soprano

Judith Blegen

Soprano 1

Edda Moser

Soprano 2

Mezzo-soprano

Agnes Baltsa

Mezzo 1

Tenor

Kenneth Riegel

Baritone

Hermann Prey

Bass

José van Dam

Others

Wiener Singverein

Orchestra

Wiener Philharmoniker

Chor der Wiener Staatsoper

Wiener Konzerthaus

Bernstein conducts Mahler: Symphony No. 8

Vienna

Austria

The Austrian composer and conductor Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) brought the traditional genre of the symphony into the 20th century. Today his works form the standard repertoire of every major orchestra. The Eighth is one of the largest scored works in music history and its bombastic effect is comparable to Arnold Schönberg's Gurre-Lieder, which were written around the same time.
"It's the greatest thing I've done up to now. And so peculiar in content and form that it's impossible to write about it. Just imagine that the universe begins to sound and sound. They are no longer human voices, but planets and suns circling" (Gustav Mahler).
Mahler's 8th Symphony was written in 1906 and premiered in Munich in 1910 with triumphant success. Here it also received its nickname "Symphony of a Thousand", because under the direction of the composer 1030 people took part in this sung symphony cantata.
The 8th symphony was the first work by Mahler to bring him great success during his lifetime. The special reputation of the symphony was primarily shaped by the unique combination of the Latin Whitsun hymn "Veni, creator spiritus" with the final scene from Goethe's "Faust II". They give rise to the peculiar character of the work somewhere between symphony, oratorio, musical drama and the mystery of redemption.
Leonard Bernstein performed the Eighth Symphony at the 1975 Salzburg Festival and then at the Vienna Konzerthaus, where this recording was made. For this purpose, the stage of the concert hall had to be enlarged to create space for the unusually large orchestra, the two choirs, the children's choir and the soloists.
Bernstein was the first conductor to record all of Gustav Mahler's symphonies not only on disc but also on video. The Mahler cycle, realized between 1971 and 1985 for the most part with the Vienna Philharmonic, was the first project in Leonard Bernstein's twenty-year collaboration with Unitel. Bernstein's recordings of all Mahler symphonies are not only a unique musical document, but they also contributed to a new understanding of Mahler's work.
"All Mahler symphonies, all Mahler works by the way, are full of extremes. Extremes in dynamics, in tempo, in emotional meaning. If the music is bare, then it is very bare; if it is dense and powerful, it is denser and more powerful than the Götterdämmerung as a whole; when it suffers, it suffers as has never been suffered in music." (Leonard Bernstein)

Großer Saal

Public

Symphony 8

Approved

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