16 Surrey Advertiser 23rd May 2003
SIS Tt
—
e
—
e,
ey
—
Gigantic forces in
Mahler’s 8th
THE composer Gustav Mahler is particularly cherished for his epic 10 Symphonies and of them the
greatest, by sheer number of performers, is the 8th
.Symphony, nicknamed ‘Symphony of a Thousand’.
The scoring is staggering: two large mixed voice
choirs, a children’s choir, eight soloists, an augmented orchestra, complete with quadruple woodwind
and nine horns, a piano, a harmonium, a full organ,
and an off-stage brass band!
These gigantic forces assembled at Guildford
Cathedral for a performance conducted by Jeremy
Backhouse.
The symphony is divided into two movements,
the first based on the Whitsuntide hymn Veni, creator spiritus. In this movement the composer illustrates his debt to the fugal style of earlier composers
in the church tradition. In the second movement, a
setting of the final scene from Goethe’s Faust,
Mabhler utilises the themes from the first movement
but this time giving it an operatic nature.
Joining Guildford Philharmonic Choir, were
Lewisham Choral Society and South West Essex
Choir, The Greycoat Hospital Chamber Choir and
the Forest Philharmonic Orchestra.
Contributed