Format : Sheet music
Symphonie der Tausend-Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 8 is a work of exceptions. Seen from the outside this is true of the forces that are used: with its three choirs eight soloists and an orchestra of far more than one hundred musicians there are few similar works in the annals of music. This cast of performers determines the second exceptional element of the work the mix of instrumental and vocal characteristics that makes it to the prototype of a 'vocal symphony' which - as Mahler put it - 'is sung from beginning to end'. In turn the texts that are sung influence the structure of the whole replacing as it were the usual four movements of a symphony with twostrongly divergent 'parts'. And finally as if to emphasize this divergence the texts used - the hymn Veni creator spiritus in the first part and the final scene of Goethe's Faust in the second - are not only written in two languages but also separated in their origins by more than one thousand years. Thus it is a work of extremes and a work of contradiction. It seems however that it was exactly these distinctive features that lifted the symphony above the others and convinced Mahler that his Symphony No. 8 was 'the greatest' work 'that I have composed'. It is an understandable coincidence that he thus raised Symphony No. 8 to the same rank within his oeuvre as Goethe who claimed that the drama was his 'Hauptgeschäft' [main work] did with Faust. Even after composing his late works Mahler retained his belief that Symphony No. 8 was his 'opus summum'. (Christian Wildhagen)
SKU: CA.2380203
ISBN M-007-24441-5. German.
Nicholas Kok's newly-created vocal score of the 4th and 5th movements of Mahler's 2nd Symphony is aimed particularly at vocal soloists and choral singers who wish to practice the two vocal movements in this work; it is available on sale, as is the chorus score. To ensure a secure entry at the attacca beginning of the 4th movement, the vocal score begins earlier in the 3rd movement. The rehearsal letters in the prevalently used orchestral materials have been taken into consideration so that the vocal score and chorus score are compatible with all the available music editions. In his 2nd Symphony, premiered in 1895 after a seven-year gestation period, Gustav Mahler combined different work concepts which he had previously tried out in various independent compositions: the 1st movement with the original title Todtenfeier was conceived as a symphonic poem, the 3rd movement is based on the original song for voice and piano St Anthony of Padua's Sermon to the Fishes, the 4th movement is the orchestral song Urlicht for alto, with text, like the 3rd movement, from Des Knaben Wunderhorn, and the 5th is a setting and elaboration of the Klopstock Ode Die Auferstehung for soprano and alto solo with mixed chorus. Mahler created a work in the vocal-symphonic tradition founded by Beethoven and, despite its challenges in extent and scoring, it remains one of his most popular compositions.
SKU: CA.2380204
ISBN M-007-24442-2. German.
SKU: CA.2380205
ISBN M-007-24973-1. German.
SKU: HL.49045992
ISBN 9790001203708. UPC: 842819100218. 8.0x11.5x0.418 inches. German. Lieder Der Verganglichkeit 3 Soloists (SMezBar), Mixed Choir and Orchestra Study Score.
The form of this work is not so much based on the classical symphony, but is closer to a song cycle structure which has now grown toinclude 13 movements for choir and orchestra. The Romantic characteristics and form of the 8th Symphony are both reminiscent of Gustav Mahlers choral symphonic works and his Lied von der Erde. Krzysztof Penderecki here extends and augments his expressive musical material, for example through cluster techniques and glissandi, possibilities which he has been systematically exploring since the 1950s. He has compiled the texts from poetry by Eichendorff, Rilke, Brecht, Kraus, Hesse, Goethe, Bethge and von Arnim on the theme of forests and trees, which has long been close to his heart as demonstrated by his private arboretum near Luslavice ('my personal Ithaca') containing over 1500 species of trees.
SKU: HL.14076007