Had the very good fortune to attend a special event at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester on Sunday evening. It was a performance of Mahler’s eighth symphony – a huge work with massive choirs, several soloists and an enormous orchestra. Mahler wrote it as a hymn of praise to the universe when he knew that he was dying. The conductor has to organise and marshal all these forces into a coherent whole. Sir Mark Elder more than delivered.
It is known as the ‘Symphony of a Thousand’ as it has about a thousand participants. From the opening chord it is a sonic spectacular that gave the Bridgewater Hall a real workout. Because of the huge forces involved it is performed very rarely.
A 15 minute standing ovation at the end was no more than the performance deserved. Special mention must go to the Halle Children’s choir that has only been in existence for 2 years and comprises children ages 8-13. They were superb.
The 1000 players comprised: Halle Orchestra; BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, 8 soloists, Halle Choir; Girls of the Halle Youth Choir; Halle Children’s Choir; City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Chorus.
Who said collaboration and coalition produced weakness? What twaddle. However you do need a Mark Elder figure to bring things together and make it not just effective but brilliant.
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I was a member of the Halle Children's Choir on the evening, it was spell binding. Thank you for your amazing comments. I really want to do it again as it was so much fun!
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