Symphony No. 8 in E flat major ("Symphony of a Thousand")
Because Gustav Mahler's symphonies are extraordinarily long, it is highly unusual to find one serving as filler on an album with an even longer work. Yet such appears to be the case with this ICA Classics twofer of Mahler's Symphony No. 1 in D major, which is paired with his gargantuan Symphony No. 8 in E flat major. The first disc contains all of the Symphony No. 1, which takes just under 45 minutes to play, as well as Part I of the Symphony No. 8, the "Veni, Creator Spiritus," timed at just over a half hour, yet nothing ...
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Because Gustav Mahler's symphonies are extraordinarily long, it is highly unusual to find one serving as filler on an album with an even longer work. Yet such appears to be the case with this ICA Classics twofer of Mahler's Symphony No. 1 in D major, which is paired with his gargantuan Symphony No. 8 in E flat major. The first disc contains all of the Symphony No. 1, which takes just under 45 minutes to play, as well as Part I of the Symphony No. 8, the "Veni, Creator Spiritus," timed at just over a half hour, yet nothing is unduly rushed or squeezed in. (Some may quibble with the brisk tempo in the Scherzo of the First, but there is no reason why it should be played heavily, or that the Trio needs to be played at a lugubrious tempo.) The second disc contains Part II of the Eighth, which, at just under an hour, is a conventional timing. Considering that the Eighth usually takes up a double-disc set by itself, getting these two works together is an extraordinary value, and considering that Hartmut...
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