The Best Recordings of Mahler Symphony No. 8

Gil Zilkha, singer/collector/music enthusiast
In this installment of Essential Classical Music, I cover the best recordings of Mahler's Symphony No. 8, "Symphony of a Thousand". This video is taken from my larger video covering more of the major symphonies and their best recordings. Featured conductors include Bernstein, Solti, and Horenstein.

[@edwardcasper5231]

I saw Solti perform the 8th live at the Chicago Lyric Opera House a few months before the orchestra made the recording shown in the video. The piece was recorded in Vienna, on the first European tour the Chicago Symphony ever made. I also saw the 8th performed at the Ravinia Festival a couple of years later conducted by James Levine.

[@GilZilkha]

Thanks for sharing!

[@jbbevan]

I'd like to let you know of yet another..recorded in 2017..by the Utah Symphony and the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square with Thierry Fischer conducting. With the legacy of Abravanel's pioneering Mahler Cycle, Fischer had a tradition to live up to. But the Choir is the largest "sitting" choir to tackle the work so they are used to the size of the forces. Bryn Terfel when he made his Homeward Bound album for DGG with them declared them the hardest working most rehearsed choir in his experience...this has been going on since their first radio broadcast in 1928 which continues as the longest running such broadcast in the world. Then there is the mighty organ which certainly makes the opening movement special. This recording (by Reference) is not usually on people's radar but I was there when it was recorded and it holds a special place in my history of music and concerts. I do have the Solti and the Bernstein, as well. However, the Abravanel on Vanguard was the first stereo recording in the US. It was also recorded in the Salt Lake Tabernacle with that organ in 1963.

[@furrybear57]

Sorry to disagree with you on the Bernstein recording on DG. Originally they had it scheduled with the New York Philharmonic before Bernstein died and like you said they substituted the Vienna/Salzburg recording to round out their cycle. Unfortunately, DG decided to issue an alternate Salzburg performance for CD rather than issuing the soundtrack to the more famous video recording. This alternate has Margaret Price singing flat several times with many errors coming out of the orchestra. The video version instead has Edda Moser as Soprano I ( Magna Peccatrix) singing much better and the orchestral performance cleaned up with studio patch ups afterwards. The DG CD issue no doubt used a raw tape with no patch ups.
I would also suggest the Abbado recording - also on DG - from 1995 with the Berlin Philharmonic and using another galaxy of singers such as Cheryl Studer, Andrea Rost, Sylvia McNair, Anne Sofie von Otter, Peter Seiffert, Bryn Terfel, and Jan-Hendrick Rootering. A fantastic recording in my opinion.