Minnesota Orchestra and Osmo Vänskä: Mahler 8
BIS

The Symphony No. 8 in E-flat major, aka the “Symphony of a Thousand,” by Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) is the most anomalous of the nine he completed, ten if the one his death left unfinished and completed by others is included (of the versions that have been appeared, it's the one by Deryck Cooke that is the most recorded and widely performed). Whereas the others, despite their radical differences, hew in one way or another to standard conventions of the symphony form, the eighth casts many of them aside. It's in two movements, for one, and in coupling its considerable instrumental forces with vocalists and choirs, it plays more like Mahler's response to Beethoven's own choral symphony, the ninth, than a symphony per se. Further to that, the eighth's two parts are fundamentally different, with the first sung in Latin and based on a ninth-century Christian hymn (“Veni creator spiritus”) and the second a treatment of text from Goethe's Faust, Part II. While the parts are connected by theme, redemption achieved through the power of love, they could have been presented as two separate vocal works rather than conjoined into a symphony. At the same time, there's no denying that both bear Mahler's unmistakable musical signature.

It was composed during the summer of 1906, orchestrated a year later, and given its first performance in Munich on September 12th, 1910 with Mahler conducting; it would be, it turned out, the last of his works to be premiered in his lifetime as he died eight months later. Upon its completion, he rapturously stated in a letter to fellow conductor Willem Mengelberg, “All my other symphonies are but preludes to this one.” While some listeners, critics, and artists concurred (Anton Webern and Thomas Mann, to name two), not all shared his conviction; writing about a 1916 performance in the Boston Daily Advertiser, a disheartened Charles Peabody called its setting of Latin text “gross” and described the orchestra as “howling.” More than a hundred years later, we of course hear this monumental work differently and experience it in light of incredible developments that followed. While the staggering vocal and instrumental forces Mahler assembled for the work's performance might have struck Peabody as grotesque, such an impression would be less common today. Even though it's inarguably one of the largest-scale choral works in the classical concert repertoire, its compact form, dynamic tone, and richly varied presentation make it, perhaps surprisingly, immediately accessible.

Certainly the inspired treatment by the Minnesota Orchestra and conductor Osmo Vänskä—the penultimate chapter in their years-long Mahler recording project (their rendering of his third symphony is scheduled for a spring 2024 release)—is immensely appealing, and true to the work's demands involves contributions from many others. Augmenting sopranos Carolyn Sampson and Jacquelyn Wagner, mezzo-sopranos Sasha Cooke and Jess Dandy, tenor Barry Banks, bass-baritone Christian Immler, and baritone Julian Orlishausen are the Minnesota Chorale, the National Lutheran Choir, the Angelica Cantanti Youth Choirs, and the Minnesota Boy choir. That four choirs, seven vocal soloists, and an orchestra managed to be successfully integrated into the performance is an incredible logistical achievement in itself. The singers bring their world-class reputations to the recording and do much to make the performance as superb as it is.

In keeping with its affirmative tone, the glorious first part, “Veni creator spiritus” ("Come, Creator, Spirit") is delivered with maximum intensity and the abundant vocal and instrumental forces coming together magnificently. After majestic choral declamations initiate the work, vocal soloists enter to supplicate movingly alongside prototypical Mahler melodies and celestial choir intonings. Evocative instrumental passages provide dramatic backdrops for vocal expressions that both tenderly and passionately implore the Creator to “Kindle our senses with light [and] pour Thy love into our hearts.” The massing of the singers, choral and solo, in the last two sections is almost overwhelming in its physical force, with the high-decibel climax in “Gloria sit Patri Domino” awesome.

That the second part begins quietly is something of a relief after the first's intensity. The narrative now presented recounts the journey Faust's soul undertakes after it escapes from Mephistopheles and ascends to heaven, a journey that might be regarded as symbolizing the human struggle in general to reach salvation. Mahler's expository prelude paints a vivid picture and sets a mystery-laden scene for hushed choral voicings. As the tension's resolved, Pater Ecstaticus (Orlishausen) enters with words buoyed by love and their tone offset by the tormented musings of Pater Profundus (Immler) (“O God! assuage my thoughts / Enlighten my needy heart!”). Choral episodes follow featuring “Blessed Boys,” “Younger Angels,” and “More Perfect Angels,” which in turn lead into solo passages featuring Doctor Marianus (Banks), Una Poenitentium (Wagner), Magna Peccatrix (Sampson), Mulier Samaritana (Cooke), and Maria Aegyptiaca (Dandy) (a trio featuring the latter three is particularly memorable).

As the second part progresses, the music ascends in tandem with the upward climb of the narrative, Mahler's writing reaching ever loftier heights and growing rhapsodic and celestial. Listeners familiar with his other symphonies will hear echoes of them (the fourth, for instance) now and then in the eighth. When Faust's soul finally reaches heaven and is dazzled by its blissful sights, the music turns triumphant and transcendent. As different as the two parts are, they're tied together when at the end of the work its opening choral theme is reintroduced as the Chorus Mysticus's final word "hinan" (“heavenward”) is uttered. In 2021, The Guardian's Andrew Clements applauded Vänskä's rendering of the tenth symphony, writing that “he never fusses with this music or overinterprets Mahler, and that neutral, stoic approach pays dividends,” and such words are equally applicable to his handling of the eighth. Stated otherwise, Vänskä's level-headed approach serves Mahler first and foremost by rendering the score with fastidious attention to detail and delivering a balanced and fully integrated performance. This penultimate release adds to the series handsomely.

January 2024