Composer Gustav Mahler was a pioneer in music. He set trends in Opera performances in Vienna in the late 1800’s. The quality of his performances of orchestral concerts and opera performances are legendary, and they set standards for excellence. He directed the first performance of his own symphony #8 in Munich, Germany, and the reason it got its title is because nearly 1000 musicians participated in the performance.
This special DVD was released to coincide with the Opening Concert of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra season in September 2012.
- Mahler: Symphony No. 8 in E flat major ‘Symphony of the Thousand’
Performed by the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel
This could well be the most ambitious recording of any Mahler symphony ever and a once-in-a-generation classical event and an unforgettable night for the city of Caracas.
This truly unique account of Mahler’s most extraordinary symphony is part of Gustavo Dudamel’s planned Mahler cycle, this time featuring BOTH orchestras with which he is most closely associated – the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, who have both played acclaimed Mahler concerts with Maestro Dudamel in the US and in Venezuela.
The performance also features an immense vocal force including a massed choir of young Venezuelan voices and a line-up of international soloists.
The performance was seen in hundreds of theaters in the United States and Canada, as well as those in Brazil, Colombia and Argentina.
Here is the Mahler 8 rehearsal with Gustavo Dudamel; you can get a sense of the scale of this performance:
Now watch the new trailer of Gustavo Dudamel’s new DVD MAHLER Symphony No. 8 (“Symphony of a Thousand”).
Tags: Gustav Mahler, Symphony #8, Dudamel