Mahler - Symphonies Nos. 8 (& 10 Adagio) - Michael Tilson Thomas - SFO 821936-0021-2 (2008) 2x SACD rip via PS3 to 2x iso (6.3GB) | 24bit/88.2kHz flac | Mch (3.97GB) (+5.33 & +6dB gain) | 2ch (1.76GB) DR14 (5.23 & +5.96dB gain) | PDF | Classical Michael Tilson Thomas is among today's foremost interpreters of Mahler, & critic Mark Swed, writing in the Los Angeles Times, has called MTT & the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra "The most exciting Mahler combination anywhere right now". -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mahler was given to large public statements, & his 7th Symphony is the most extravagant of these. At the same time, its many moments of tenderness & intimacy look ahead to the music he was still to write, Das Lied von der Erde, the 9th Symphony, & the impassioned Adagio from the work left uncompleted when he died, the 10th Symphony. On this recording, we encounter the most expansive music Mahler wrote, alongside a work of deep introspection. Goethe’s Faust is a recklessly inclusive composition, to which Mahler must have looked as he planned his own unprecedentedly global symphonies. In his 8th, joining Faust to Veni, creator spiritus—linking the complexities of Goethe’s humanism to the questionless faith of an 8th century Christian hymn—Mahler sought to create a similarly encompassing work. It was not with Faust that the 8th Symphony began. In June 1906, when Mahler arrived at Maiernigg on Lake Wörth in Southern Austria, where he had bought a plot of land, he had no ideas for a new composition. Then, on the 1st day he went to his studio, the Spiritus creator suddenly took hold of him & drove him on for the next 8 weeks until the greatest part of his work was done. He was quick to perceive that Veni, creator spiritus was but a beginning, that he dared tackle that Holy of Holies in German literature, the final scene of Faust, & that the bridge between the texts was to be found in the 3rd stanza of the hymn: “Ignite our Reason with Light/Fill our hearts with Love.” Mahler then worked with astonishing speed, sketching between June & August 1906 completing the score the next summer. AllMusic: In spite of its small flaws, this is undeniably a great performance of Mahler's 8th. It has the right balance of line & harmony, the right feel for mass & momentum, the right sense of being in & of the moment, & above all, the sheer audacity to pull off the whole mighty & monumental work. Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas is not quite as precise as he should be at every point in the score. Some entrances are not exact, some sonorities are not properly balanced, & some tempo relationships are not as tight as they could be. But these are small flaws in comparison with the greatness of Tilson Thomas' conception & the magnificence of his execution. Similarly, the San Francisco Symphony is not quite as together as they could be in every bar of the piece. There are slips in ensemble, as well as the occasional flub that such virtuoso writing orchestral can cause in even the best bands. But again, the tremendous verve & enormous power the San Francisco musicians bring to the music more than make up for their few mistakes. High praise goes to James Morris for his stentorian bass, & to Erin Wall for her clarion soprano, but another soloist's diction is on-again, off-again. The San Francisco Symphony Chorus deserves cheers for its strength & agility, as do the children's choruses for their purity of tone, but both groups have occasional intonation problems. The weaknesses, though, are insignificant in the face of the sweep & grandeur of the total performance, which grabs listeners from the 1st bar & doesn't let go until they are left, starry-eyed & laughing, at the last ringing chord of the final Chorus Mysticus. This great 8th is paired on the recording with a reading of the opening movement of Mahler's 10th that makes its composer sound like a self-pitying, self-absorbed weakling. That such a puny & pusillanimous account comes before the 1st movement of the 7th in the program is deeply regrettable. Played back on a standard stereo system, the performance sounds dim & distant unless turned up to the highest volume, & even then it's not significantly better. When it's played on a quadraphonic super-audio system, however, the performers seem to step into your living room, or, put another way, they're inviting you to step into their concert hall. TheGuardian: It has taken Michael Tilson Thomas & the San Francisco Symphony 8 years to work their way through the Mahler canon, & this final instalment, like all its predecessors taken from concerts in Davis Symphony Hall, San Francisco, more or less confirms the strengths & weaknesses of the cycle as a whole. Very much on the plus side are the superlative orchestral playing, which is as consistently fine & well integrated as in any Mahler cycle currently available on disc, & the exceptional dynamic range & refinement of the recorded sound, which is demonstrated even more spectacularly than before in the grandeur & aural spectacle of the choral 8th. Doubts linger, though, about Tilson Thomas's conducting, whose objectivity seems intended to contrast as much as possible with the heart-on-sleeve approach to Mahler epitomised by Leonard Bernstein. Sometimes Tilson Thomas is just too cool & detached for this most subjective & self-referential of great composers; there's a whole tragic dimension missing to the gloriously played account of the 1st movement of the 10th Symphony that prefaces the main work here, while the 8th lacks dramatic power in the 1st part, & the gathering sense of inwardness in the 2nd, however beautifully balanced & lucid it all is musically. HRAudio.net review: https://www.hraudio.net/showmusic.php?title=6058#reviews Tracks: Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 10 in F sharp minor (Adagio) Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 8 in E flat major 'Symphony of a thousand' Disc 1: 01 Symphony No. 10 in F Sharp minor (Incomplete): Adagio 02 Symphony No. 8 in E Flat Major ('Symphony of a Thousand'): Part 1. Hymnus - Veni, Creator Spiritus 03 Symphony No. 8 in E Flat Major ('Symphony of a Thousand'): Part 1. Accende Lumen Sensibus 04 Symphony No. 8 in E Flat Major ('Symphony of a Thousand'): Part 1. Infunde Amorem Cordibus 05 Symphony No. 8 in E Flat Major ('Symphony of a Thousand'): Part 1. Gloria Patri Domino Disc 2: 01 Symphony No. 8 in E Flat Major ('Symphony of a Thousand'): Part 2. Poco Adagio 02 Symphony No. 8 in E Flat Major ('Symphony of a Thousand'): Part 2. Waldung, Sie Schwankt Heran 03 Symphony No. 8 in E Flat Major ('Symphony of a Thousand'): Part 2. Ewiger Wonnebrand 04 Symphony No. 8 in E Flat Major ('Symphony of a Thousand'): Part 2. Wie Felsenabgrund Mir Zu Füssen 05 Symphony No. 8 in E Flat Major ('Symphony of a Thousand'): Part 2. Gerettet Ist Das Edle Glied 06 Symphony No. 8 in E Flat Major ('Symphony of a Thousand'): Part 2. Hier Ist Die Aussicht Frei 07 Symphony No. 8 in E Flat Major ('Symphony of a Thousand'): Part 2. Dir, Der Unberührbaren 08 Symphony No. 8 in E Flat Major ('Symphony of a Thousand'): Part 2. Du Schwebst Zu Höhen 09 Symphony No. 8 in E Flat Major ('Symphony of a Thousand'): Part 2. Bei Dem Bronn, Zu Dem Schon Weiland 10 Symphony No. 8 in E Flat Major ('Symphony of a Thousand'): Part 2. Komm, Hebe Dich Zu Höhern Sphären 11 Symphony No. 8 in E Flat Major ('Symphony of a Thousand'): Part 2. Blicket Auf 12 Symphony No. 8 in E Flat Major ('Symphony of a Thousand'): Part 2. Alles Vergängliche Time: 01:51:49 Musicians: Erin Wall Eliza van den Heever Laura Claycomb Katarina Karneus Yvonne Naef Anthony Dean Griffey Quinn Kelsey James Morris San Francisco Symphony Chorus San Francisco Girls Chorus Pacific Boychoir San Francisco Symphony Michael Tilson Thomas (conductor) http://www.filefactory.com/folder/2385a076303d27bf -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Checksum for iso: 1079fc61266d31a86eaae25d615ba302 *Mahler Symphony No. 8 & 10-disc1.iso 57e6b7b45185e450b66791a8532585fc *Mahler Symphony No. 8 & 10-disc2.iso