{"id":14703,"date":"2015-08-13T08:03:57","date_gmt":"2015-08-13T13:03:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.berkshirelinks.com\/?p=14703"},"modified":"2015-08-13T08:03:57","modified_gmt":"2015-08-13T13:03:57","slug":"mahlers-eighth-marks-tmcs-75th","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/idealpoetry.com\/rwc\/mahlers-eighth-marks-tmcs-75th\/","title":{"rendered":"Mahler’s Eighth marks TMC’s 75th"},"content":{"rendered":"

August 12, 2015 Tanglewood concert review by Dave Read<\/a><\/h4>\n

The culmination of the Tanglewood Music Center\u2019s 75th anniversary<\/strong> celebration was the Aug. 8, 2015 performance of Mahler\u2019s Eighth Symphony<\/strong>, the Symphony of a Thousand<\/em>, with BSO music director Andris Nelsons<\/strong> conducting 363 musicians, including the TMC Fellows<\/strong>, the Tanglewood Festival Chorus<\/strong>, eight leading vocal soloists, the Boston University Tanglewood Institute Chorus<\/strong>, the American Boychoir<\/strong>, and members of the BSO. Not only was this concert an impressive spectacle, but it was as thrilling a musical experience as one could imagine.<\/p>\n

Latin hymn combined with Goethe’s Faust<\/h2>\n

\"Andris<\/a>
Andris Nelsons and Klaus Florian Vogt with the TMCO performing Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, 8.8.15 (Hilary Scott)<\/figcaption><\/figure>The composition is in two parts: the 8th century hymn for the Christian feast of Pentacost<\/em>, Veni, creator spiritus<\/em>, and the final scene from Goethe’s<\/strong> Faust<\/em>, which itself covers three millenia of history. Mahler found the connection for that improbable coupling in the third stanza of the hymn, “Accende humen sensibus,\/Infunde amorem cordibus!” (“Illuminate our senses,\/Pour love into our hearts!”) Judging by the response of the audience in the Shed and accross the Lawn, that invocation was achieved – everybody smiled broadly, standing for wave after wave of applause. <\/p>\n

For a brief video of this performance, visit streambso.org<\/a>, where you’ll see that Mahler’s 8th opens loud and bright, organ and choir invoking a church-like setting. But however universal every doctrine claims its scope, this performance of Mahler’s 8th would bear no doctrinal delimitation; this celebration was no church-going event! Mahler’s treatment of Goethe’s text is practically a sampler of musical styles and ideas, leading to the final chorus. The journey is spellbinding, building naturally to a close, nothing forced, no straining, the accumulation of one beautiful sound after another until your senses – and your soul, have been thouroughly engaged and satisfied. <\/p>\n

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