G. Mahler: Symphony No.8 in E-flat major, Symphony of a Thousand

 

“Imagine the universe beginning to ring and resound. It is no longer human voices. It is planets and suns revolving in their orbits,” Gustav Mahler wrote to a friend of his, Dutch conductor Mengelberg, in 1906, after he finished working on his grand Symphony No. 8 in E-flat major. That “resounding space” that the composer dedicated to his beloved wife Alma, first “ringed and resounded” in 1910, conducted by the author himself. Its Croatian premiere took place 25 years ago, on 6 February 1993. The performance was put on by Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall in cooperation with the Music Academy of the University of Zagreb within the Saturday at Lisinski cycle! A special atmosphere and excitement accompany each performance of the Symphony of a Thousand, as it is frequently called, because it is instrumentally and vocally very demanding. It is the case now, as well. The symphony that is continually “sung from the beginning to the end”, which nobody came up with before Mahler, and as Mahler himself says: Columbus’ egg, a “pure symphony”, brought to its determination in the most beautiful instrument that exists: the human voice – will gather excellent Croatian choirs – the Ivan Goran Kovačić Academic Choir, the Ivan Filipović Chamber Choir, the Zvjezdice Girl Choir and top soloists accompanied by the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra under prominent conductor Dmitri Kitayenko. They will open another excellent season of the Saturday at Lisinski concert cycle with this grand masterpiece of symphonic writing, which celebrates happiness, peace and harmony and spreads the idea of redemption through Love!