Mahler’s Eighth echos through Symphony Hall with grandiosity
Boston Symphony Orchestra, choirs, and soloists, bring Mahler’s “Symphony of a Thousand” to the Symphony Hall stage.
PHOTO COURTESY OF Winslow Townson
Mahler’s Eighth Symphony
BSO/Tanglewood Festival Chorus/Boys of the Saint Paul’s Choir School
Conducted by Andris Nelsons
Location: Boston Symphony Hall
Dates Playing Oct. 4–6
The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) performed Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 8—his “Symphony of a Thousand”—on Saturday, October 5, 2024, at Symphony Hall in Boston, under the direction of Music Director Andris Nelsons. The performance featured soloists Latonia Moore (soprano), Christine Goerke (soprano), Ying Fang (soprano), Mihoko Fujimura (mezzo-soprano), Gerhild Romberger (mezzo-soprano), Andreas Schager (tenor), Michael Nagy (baritone), and Ryan Speedo Green (bass-baritone); it also included the Tanglewood Festival Chorus (directed by James Burton), and the Boys of the Saint Paul’s Choir School (directed by Brandon Straub). Mahler’s music was brought to life with a spectacular performance of this rarely-played symphony.
While the performance did not literally feature one thousand musicians, the stage was as packed as the house: musicians had to weave through a sea of chairs and stands in order to reach their own. The Eighth Symphony, written in 1906 and finished in 1907, calls for the fullest possible orchestra, including choir, boy’s choir, mandolin, two harps, eight horns, and organ. Dexter Kennedy sat at the helm of Symphony Hall’s Aeolian-Skinner/Foley-Baker organ. The symphony is structured in two movements: the first sung in Latin and based on the medieval hymn Veni creator spiritus (“Come, creator spirit”); the second sung in German and based on the end of Goethe’s Faust.
The first movement opened unabashedly with organ and chorus, followed by march-like brass. The BSO strings played with an energetic clarity and precision that could be heard from the back of the hall, driving Nelsons’ decidedly allegro tempo forward. Tenor Andreas Schager and soprano Latonia Moore’s voices carried over the ensemble (especially on “altissimi,” or “highest”), but they also demonstrated an ability to blend with the rest of the soloists. Associate concertmaster Alexander Velinzon’s solo was haunting, with a distinct Mahlerian flare recalling the earlier symphonies. The first movement ended with antiphonal brass in a reprise of the opening so grand it could end a symphony. Nelsons led the orchestra through the sweeping A-flat major scale in a plagal cadence fitting to a hymn’s finale.
Opening with an E-flat minor pizzicato in the lower strings, the second movement is more contrapuntal than the first, with interjections from woodwinds, horns, and tremolo strings. The choir does not come in until later, with staccato, sylvan lyrics describing the forest and natural themes. The entrance of Michael Nagy (Pater Ecstaticus) and then Ryan Speedo Green (Pater Profundus) marked a change in the tone of the work, with many contrasting ideas and textures entering and exiting the musical forefront. A particular highlight of the second movement was Ying Fang’s solo from the balcony as Mater Gloriosa, performed with beauty and elegance.
The last scene, titled “Chorus Mysticus,” showcased the expressive capabilities of both the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and the BSO. The scene starts with a pianissimo chorus, singing Goethe’s text “All things transitory are only symbols,” and gradually crescendos to a roaring fortissimo at the end of the piece. In this crescendo, principal horn Richard Sebring’s solo was particularly sublime, his effortless leaps adding to the otherworldly quality. Nelsons’ control and restraint of the massive ensemble was unparalleled, often standing far back on the podium to indicate a drop to pianissimo or niente. As with the end of the first movement, four trumpets and three trombones joined the orchestra from the upper left balcony in an effect that can only be described as angelic. In the final moments of the symphony, Nelsons directed his hand towards the antiphonal group as their sound carried throughout Symphony Hall. The final tutti E-flat major chord ended the work in a triumph.
The program was met with an immediate and thunderous standing applause by the audience, which lasted over 10 minutes. The Boys of the Saint Paul’s Choir School, standing on the right balcony, were met with roars and cheers, as were the vocal soloists. This was a very refreshing concert, and I walked away from Symphony Hall with a feeling of wonder at the masterpiece that I had just heard.