Sunday 2 May 2010, 7.30pm
PRE-CONCERT EVENTS TAKE PLACE OVER THE WEEKEND

Olivier Latry Improvisation on 'Veni, Creator Spiritus'   20'
         
Mahler Symphony No.8, 'Symphony of a Thousand'   85'

Sir Mark Elder conductor | Olivier Latry organ
Claire Rutter soprano | Aga Mikolaj soprano | Anna Leese soprano
Sarah Connolly mezzo-soprano | Catherine Wyn-Rogers mezzo-soprano
Lars Cleveman tenor | Gerald Finley bass-baritone | James Creswell bass
Hallé Choir, Children's Choir and girls of the Hallé Youth Choir
City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus and Youth Chorus

Bringing together the combined forces of the Hallé and the BBC Philharmonic, four choirs and a first-class roster of vocal soloists, Sir Mark Elder conducts a rare airing of Mahler's extravagantly monumental Eighth Symphony. Its epic dimensions and staggering vision, requiring a vast number of performers including blazing brass around the balconies, have earned it the reputation of a work of Olympian proportions. The music, subtle in detail and unavoidably personal in its intensity of utterance yet shattering in its cumulative power, came to Mahler in a white heat of inspiration. The words combine sacred and secular - God with Goethe - in the medieval hymn 'Veni, Creator Spiritus' ('a great confident shout to the skies') and a setting of the final scene of the Faust legend. A live performance of Symphony No.8, with its special challenges, brings a real sense of occasion, preceded here by a dazzling organ improvisation on the symphony's uplifting 'Veni, Creator Spiritus' theme. 'Try to imagine the whole universe beginning to ring and resound. These are no longer human voices, but planets and suns revolving.' Mahler on Symphony No.8.

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This concert is being broadcast on BBC Radio 3.