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Mahler’s Eighth Symphony

With unimaginable force, inspiration struck Gustav Mahler in the summer of 1906 when he, instead of resting and recuperating, within the course of a few months wrote the entire monumental work for three choirs, eight solo singers and a large orchestra. His wife Alma said afterwards how the ”Veni, creator spiritus” part in the first movement was composed before Mahler received the lyrics, but even so they were perfectly matched. The two movements in Mahler’s Symphony no. 8 brings together the 9th century hymn with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s play ”Faust”, written a thousand years later. It is a pioneering and optimistic piece that sounds, in the composer’s own words, ”as if the whole universe begins to sing”.

It is not often performed, Mahler’s Symphony no. 8 in E-flat major. It has nothing to do with any flaws in its artistic or intellectual quality; on the contrary, the symphony has been praised ever since its première in September 1910. The reason the piece is not performed more frequently is solely because of the enormous cast required for a first-class performance. With some reason, the impresario Emil Gutmann nicknamed the piece ”Symphony of a Thousand”, even though Mahler himself consistently dissociated himself from the it and never sanctioned the use of the undoubtedly punchy subtitle. However, Gutmann’s task was to arouse interest in its first performance and in that regard, the moniker was – and is – very apt.

But Mahler fairly soon regretted involving Gutmann in the preparations; in his correspondence, he described his concern that the impresario would turn the performance into ”a catastrophic Barnum and Bailey show”. He himself had more profound ambitions for his piece and the massive orchestra and choral ensembles required was not for the sake of magnitude per se, but for the realization of his artistic idea: “Imagine the whole universe beginning to ring and resound. There are no longer human voices, but planets and suns revolving.” To fully express this cosmic vision, Mahler went further than had ever been done before.

As early as 1911, Arnold Schönberg, who moreover was inspired by Mahler, broke through this boundary beyond boundaries with his magnificent song-cycle, Gurre-Lieder. But when Mahler wrote his symphony in the summer of 1906, this synthesis of symphony, cantata, motet and romance was ground-breaking, something of which he himself was fully aware. He himself called the piece the greatest he had ever written and that his previous seven symphonies were but preludes to this.

The symphony opens with a triumphant invocation: ”Veni, creator spiritus”, a 9th century hymn, which can also be found in the hymn book of the Church of Sweden as ”Come, Creator Spirit, Lord God”. In the 19th century, the lyrics of the hymn was translated into German by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who argued that its message accorded with his own philosophy. Parallel to the hymn in the second movement of the symphony, Mahler, who was a great admirer of Goethe, has set to music the end of Goethe’s own tragedy ”Faust”, in which the protagonist’s soul is redeemed from the clutches of the devil and ascends to heaven. Mahler wanted to convey that love was the path to man’s redemption, a fairly drastic move away from the pessimism that had characterised his earlier music.

At Berwaldhallen, Mahler’s Symphony no. 8 was performed as recently as in February this year, but prior to that, it had been 12 years. Take the opportunity to savour this grandiose, delirious and and positive piece live – a rarefied and certainly a memorable experience.


SWEDISH RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA dot SWEDISH RADIO CHOIR
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Participants

 

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The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra is a multiple-award-winning ensemble renowned for its high artistic standard and stylistic breadth, as well as collaborations with the world’s finest composers, conductors, and soloists. It regularly tours all over Europe and the world and has an extensive and acclaimed recording catalogue.

Daniel Harding has been Music Director of the SRSO since 2007, and since 2019 also its Artistic Director. His tenure will last throughout the 2024/2025 season. Two of the orchestra’s former chief conductors, Herbert Blomstedt and Esa-Pekka Salonen, have since been named Conductors Laureate, and continue to perform regularly with the orchestra.

The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra performs at Berwaldhallen, concert hall of the Swedish Radio, and is a cornerstone of Swedish public service broadcasting. Its concerts are heard weekly on the Swedish classical radio P2 and regularly on national public television SVT. Several concerts are also streamed on-demand on Berwaldhallen Play and broadcast globally through the EBU.

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32 professional choristers make up the Swedish Radio Choir: a unique, dynamic instrument hailed by music-lovers and critics all over the world. The Swedish Radio Choir performs at Berwaldhallen, concert hall of the Swedish Radio, as well as on tours all over the country and the world. Also, they are heard regularly by millions of listeners on Swedish Radio P2, Berwaldhallen Play and globally through the EBU.

The award-winning Latvian conductor Kaspars Putniņš was appointed Chief Conductor of the Swedish Radio Choir in 2020. Since January 2019, its choirmaster is French orchestral and choral conductor Marc Korovitch, with responsibility for the choir’s vocal development.

The Swedish Radio Choir was founded in 1925, the same year as Sweden’s inaugural radio broadcasts, and gave its first concert in May that year. Multiple acclaimed and award-winning albums can be found in the choir’s record catalogue. Late 2023 saw the release of Kaspars Putniņš first album with the choir: Robert Schumann’s Missa sacra, recorded with organist Johan Hammarström.

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The Eric Ericson Chamber Choir was founded in 1945 by the then 27-year-old Eric Ericson and has since been a prominent hub of the Swedish as well as the international music scene. The ensemble’s interest in continually finding new music and new fields of work has given them a very extensive repertoire: from early music to the very latest. For generations of Swedish and international composers, the choir has represented an ideal with its characteristic Nordic sound and skilful virtuosity. The Eric Ericson Chamber Choir is part of the international elite of professional ensembles. Fredrik Malmberg has been their choirmaster since 2013.

Mikaeli chamber choir is one of Sweden’s most well-reputed choirs, with a broad and accomplished repertoire. Based in Stockholm, the choir comprises 32 experienced singers. Ever since the start in 1970 it has been led by Anders Eby, who is a professor of choral conducting and a conductor and teacher with various international assignments.

The ensemble’s passion for Swedish choral music has led to a large number of first performances, commissions and personal relationships with our greatest composers of choral music. The choir and its conductor also have an interest in historical music, which has contributed to the breadth of its repertoire, treating audiences to everything from female 19th century composers to polyphonic renaissance music.

Over the years, the choir has had extensive collaborations with Swedish orchestras and soloists. Mikaeli chamber choir appears on well over 20 recordings and countless radio performances, as well as concerts and performances on most of Stockholm’s major scenes. In an effort to further these traditions, the choir has also for many years arranged workshops and master classes for young, aspiring conductors.

During almost 50 years, the choir has been a mainstay of Swedish choral life. Since July 2018, Mikaeli chamber choir operates as an independent group.

The Saint Jacob Chamber Choir regularly performs at church services and concerts in the Saint Jacob Church and in Storkyrkan (Church of St. Nicholas) in Stockholm. The choir’s repertoire comprises a cappella music from a wide range of styles and periods, as well as major works for choir and orchestra. The choir has won several of Europe’s leading choir competitions, amongst them the prominent European Grand Prix, and they regularly participate in major international festivals. The choir represented Sweden at the sixth IFCM world symposium for choral music in Minneapolis in the US, together with Eric Ericson, in order to demonstrate “the Swedish choral miracle”. The choir is led by Gary Graden.

The Adolf Fredrik Church’s Treble Choir is made up of children aged 9–12. The choir has a high level of ambition and performs single as well as multi-part works for treble chorus. The choir performs on its own, as well as together with a pianist or organist, various instrumental ensembles or orchestras. Their repertoire is aimed at the classic choral tradition but also includes jazz, folk songs, traditional music, etc. The choir is led by Isabel Josephson.

The Chorista Youth Choir consists of young people in secondary or upper secondary school with a passion for singing. The choir performs at church services and concerts at Uppenbarelsekyrkan (the Church of Revelation) in Hägersten, as well  as going on concert trips. Their choirmaster is Kerstin Börjeson.

Daniel Harding is Music and Artistic Director of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, with whom in 2022 he celebrated his 15-year anniversary. In the 2014/2015 season, he devised and curated the celebrated Interplay Festival, featuring concerts and related inspirational talks with renowned artists and academics. As Artistic Director, he continues this type of influential programming. Harding is also Conductor Laureate of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, with whom he has worked for over 20 years, and Music Director of Youth Music Culture, The Greater Bay Area in China. The 2024/2025 season will be his first as Music Director at the Academia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome.

Harding is a regular visitor to the world’s foremost orchestras, including the Wiener Philharmoniker, Berliner Philharmoniker, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Staatskapelle Dresden and the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala. In the US, he has appeared with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, and the San Francisco Symphony. A renowned opera conductor, he has led acclaimed productions at the Teatro alla Scala Milan, Wiener Staatsoper, Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, and at the Aix-en-Provence and Salzburg Festivals. He was Music Director of the Orchestre de Paris, the Anima Mundi festival of Pisa, and Principal Guest Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra.

Daniel Harding tours regularly with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, performing at prestigious venues all over Europe and the world, and has recorded several acclaimed and award-winning albums with the orchestra. His tenure as Music and Artistic Director will last throughout the 2024/2025 season. “It is increasingly rare that the relationship between a conductor and an orchestra not only lasts for more than a decade, but keeps growing,” he says about working with the orchestra.

In 2002, Harding was awarded the title Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government, and in 2017 nominated to the position Officier des Arts et des Lettres. In 2012, he was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. In 2021, he was appointed Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. Daniel Harding grew up in Oxford, England, and played trumpet before taking up conducting in his late teens. He is also, since 2016, a qualified airline pilot.

Sopranen Ida Falk Winland är aktuell säsongen 2023/24 som Donna Anna i Mozarts Don Giovanni på GöteborgsOperan och som Violetta i Verdis La traviata på Kungliga Operan. Föregående säsong framträdde hon som Gilda i Verdis Rigoletto och Mimì i Puccinis La bohème, båda på GöteborgsOperan, där hon sedan 2014 ingår i solistensemblen.

I Göteborg har hon tidigare sjungit bland annat Nedda i Leoncavallos Pajazzo, Grevinnan och Susanna i Mozarts Figaros bröllop, Adalgisa i Bellinis Norma, Morgana i Händels Alcina, Cleopatra i Händels Julius Caesar och Rosina i Rossinis Barberaren i Sevilla. På Kungliga Operan gjorde hon 2018 och 2019 sina rolldebuter som Gilda i Rigoletto, respektive Violetta i La traviata. Bland andra gästspel kan nämnas Fiordiligi i Così fan tutte vid Glyndebourne-festivalen och på Paris nationalopera, First Niece i Peter Grimes på La Scala i Milano, Cunégonde i Candide på Lorraines nationalopera och Cecily i The Importance of Being Earnest på Covent Garden och Lorraines nationalopera.

Falk Winland har arbetat med dirigenter som Esa-Pekka Salonen, Sakari Oramo, Marc Minkowski, Gustavo Dudamel, Daniel Harding och Valery Gergiev, och har sjungit med såväl Kungliga Filharmonikerna, Sveriges Radios Symfoniorkester och Göteborgs Symfoniker. Hon har medverkat i inspelningar av Bachs Mässa h-moll med Jonathan Cohen och Haydns Skapelsen med Philipp von Steinaecker, samt spelat in ett soloalbum med sånger av Aaron Copland, Gösta Nystroem och Richard Strauss. 2018 belönades hon med Operapriset av Tidningen Operas läsare för sin insats som Adalgisa i GöteborgsOperans uppsättning av Norma.

Ida Falk Winland har studerat för Lilian Watson vid Royal College of Music och vid National Opera Studio i London då hon även, som en av två särskilt framstående musikstudenter, belönades med den prestigefyllda Tagoremedaljen.

Performing Mendelssohn’s Elias with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and receiving the Kathleen Ferrier Award in 2002 were two early high points in the career of Scottish mezzo-soprano Karen Cargill. Since then, she has performed with a number of philharmonic orchestras, including in Boston, Philadelphia, Seoul, Rotterdam, Berlin and London. She has worked with prominent conductors such as Myung-Whun Chung, Bernard Haitink, Robin Ticciati and Valery Gergiev. On the operatic stage, Cargill has appeared as Waltraute in Ragnarök at Deutsche Oper, Suzuki in Madama Butterfly at the English National Opera and as Isabella in L’italiana in Algeri at the Scottish Opera.

The tenor Simon O’Neill from New Zeeland performs on several of the world’s opera stages. He has sung at Teatro alla Scala, the Metropolitan Opera House, the Royal Opera House, Bayerische Staatsoper and the Salzburg as well as the Bayreuth Festival. He is primarily known for the demanding roles of Parsifal and Lohengrin. Simon O’Neill is currently considered one of the world’s finest heroic tenors with his majestic and dense voice. On Queen Elizabeth’s birthday in 2017, he was appointed Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his contribution to music. Besides Wagner roles, Simon O’Neill’s repertoire includes Othello, Florestan in Fidelio, Cavaradossi in Tosca, and Mao in Nixon in China.

After completing his degree in Biochemistry, English baritone Christopher Maltman had a change of heart and started studying at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He gained international renown for his performance of the title role in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. A role he reprised on screen in the film version made by opera director Kasper Holten. Maltman has started to make a name for himself as a Verdi singer, for example as Posa in Don Carlos, Germont in La traviata and the title role in Simon Boccanegra. He is also a much appreciated romantic singer and early in his career, he won the Lieder Prize at the prestigious competition, Cardiff Singer of the World. He has made highly regarded recordings on labels such as Hyperion, Warner and Chandos.

The bass barytone Shenyang was born in Tianjin in China and studied at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. He has played the title role in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, and at the Metropolitan Opera he played Masetto in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Garibaldo in Handel’s Rodelinda and Colline in Puccini’s La Bohème. He has also performed Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. In 2010, he premièred Xiaogang Ye’s Song of Farewell, which was written for him, with China’s National Symphony Orchestra. The same year, he won the Montblanc New Voices Award at the Stars of the White Nights Festival.

Concert length: 1 h 40 min

Marie Nicole Lemieuxs participation has been cancelled

No bus to Berwaldhallen from Stockholm City – 
Busline 69 is shortened and runs Karlaplan – Kaknästornet / Blockhusudden. For more information, please visit www.sl.se

FESTIVAL OFFER (Östersjöklippet)
With the Baltic Sea Festival Offer (Östersjöklippet), you get three different levels at a discount – 10, 15 and 20% off the regular fare depending on whether you buy three, four or five different concerts at the same time.
TO ‘ÖSTERSJÖKLIPPET’

Here you can see the entire festival program