Mahler, Gustav - Symphony No. 8 - Vänskä, Osmo

For its final concert of the 2021–22 season and Osmo Vänskä's last concert as artistic director, the Minnesota Orchestra decided to perform Mahler's monumental Eighth Symphony, which calls for one of the largest ensembles in music history. It symbolizes a communal, collective cultural, social, and religious-philosophical endeavor in what is known as a "mass within a mass." Unlike Mahler's other symphonies, his Eighth Symphony does not reveal any contrasting notes of despair. Rather, it is a monumental and affirmative expression of human spiritual achievement, achieved through the combination of two seemingly incompatible texts, the Latin hymn Veni Creator Spiritus and the conclusion of the second part of Goethe's Faust. Its premiere in Munich in September 1910 marked the greatest triumph of Mahler's career, with a host of European royalty and artistic elite attending the final rehearsal and performances. Performing with the Minnesota Orchestra and Osmo Vänskä are Carolyn Sampson, Jacquelyn Wagner, Sasha Cooke, Jess Dandy, Barry Banks, Julian Orlishausen, Christian Immler, and the Minnesota Choir, National Lutheran Choir, Minnesota Boys Choir, and Angelica Cantanti Youth Choir.