Customer Reviews

Symphony 8

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was fortunate enough to be a member of the chorus for this recording, and working with Tennstedt was a revelation. He was just recovering from throat cancer, and had to have a special throat mike to make himself heard between takes (given his always broken English this made things doubly-difficult!), but he managed to coax a magnificent performance from the orchestra, soloists and chorus. It is idiosyncratic in places; for example the long ritenuto leading up to the recapitulation of the "Veni Creator Spiritus" two thirds of the way through Part I is unscored, and has been criticised by some as robbing the movement of tension at a crucial point. I disagree, and think it has completely the opposite effect (c/f Solti for the literal interpretation), as well as feeling totally natural. The London Philharmonic Choir was coached to perfection by Richard Cooke and this was one of the more rewarding works I performed with them. People may also want to try out the (even better, I think) live video recording on EMI (VHS/Laser Disc) made in London's Festical Hall a few years later.

When he was good, he was very, very good and despite being in recovery from a throat cancer operation Tennstedt inspired his forces - somewhat smaller than normal but certainly not lacking in power or gravitas - to produce one of the finest recordings of this great but unwieldy and uneven work.

I have read criticisms elsewhere of some supposed inadequacy in the soloists and a slackening of tension in Part 2. I certainly hear nothing of the kind: the singers are wonderful, especially Edith Wiens as Una Poenitentium, and the climax to the whole piece is breath-takingly majestic. The sound is very fine and the reduction in choir members is all to the good as it allows Tennstedt to achieve greater clarity but without loss of weight. His tempi are finally judged, if occasionally idiosyncratic - but he does everything for good reason and clearly has a broad, over-arching vision of how the music should go, such that he manages to bridge some of the bare patches and potential longueurs when Mahler's inspiration flags somewhat. I found both the London Philharmonic Choir and the Tiffin School Boys to be thrilling, with intonation secure even in the upper reaches of the voices. For me, this stands alongside Bernstein's earlier, inspired Sony recording (also with British forces but in more elderly sound and with slightly less accomplished soloists), and with Solti's famous one-disc set, which provides even more excitement but less grandeur. This is now available on GROC coupled with the 4th Symphony, but if you want just the 8th it can be picked up very cheaply on Amazon Marketplace.

You would be hard pressed to find a more thrilling performance of Veni Creator Spiritus than this one by Klaus Tennstedt. The phrasing and dynamics are all but perfect - and the way Tennstedt achieves the long diminuendo leading to the climax of the movement is a marvel to behold.

Unfortunately, neither the soloists nor the recorded quality are top notch, and this leads to a rather unexciting part II. In particular, the solists are very recessed compared to the orchestra, and the whole thing seems unbalanced.