The National Symphony Orchestra (國家交響樂團) always pulls out all the stops for Double Ten Day. But it’s a sign both of its heartfelt commitment this year, and of its confidence that it will sell at least a respectable number of tickets, that it has chosen Mahler’s demanding Eighth Symphony this time, and for two performances.
Taking place on Sunday and Monday, in Taipei’s National Concert Hall, this so-called “Symphony of a Thousand” will feature a huge number of participants, if not quite the thousand of the initially satiric nickname. Conductor Lu Shao-chia (呂紹嘉) estimates there will be between 400 and 500 performers, the norm or even above the norm for modern performances.
Many creative artists experience a moment when they feel they have to make a bid for a work that will out-top all their previous efforts. This was certainly the case with Mahler and his Eighth Symphony, including as it does sung texts from medieval Catholicism as well as from Goethe’s Faust, the most ambitious and celebrated work in all German literature.
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The “Symphony of a Thousand” was a joke based on the number of performers onstage at the Munich premier in 1910, and Taipei will see four choirs — the Taipei Philharmonic Chorus (台北愛樂合唱團), the NTU Alumni Chorus (台大校友合唱團), the Taipei Huaxin Children’s Choir ( 台北華新兒童合唱團) and the Taiwanese vocal group La Voix d’Azur (蔚藍之聲合唱團), together with eight soloists. Among these are Danish soprano Irene Theorin (the outstanding Brunnhilde on the Copenhagen Ring cycle, reviewed in the May 2, 2010, edition of the Taipei Times), South Korean tenor Ki-Chun Park, Chinese bass Liang Li (李曉良) (soon to be the Gurnemanz in Wagner’s Parsifal in Berlin and Dusseldorf), plus well-loved Taiwanese soloists Lin Ling-hwei (林玲慧), Lin Meng-chun (林孟君) and Wu Bai Yu-hsi (巫白玉璽).
Not everyone, even among Mahler enthusiasts, loves the massive Eighth, and it’s a work that benefits from, even needs, prior acquaintance. Leonard Bernstein’s impassioned rendition probably takes pride of place on DVD (Mahler’s Symphonies 7 and 8, DGM 073-4091-2), while on CD the version conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas (San Francisco Symphony 821936-0021-2) is well to the fore among contenders.
The National Symphony Orchestra will perform Mahler’s Eighth Symphony on Sunday and Monday at the National Concert Hall, Taipei, beginning at 7.30pm. Tickets priced from NT$1,500 to NT$3,000 are still available for Sunday’s performance. They can be purchased through NTCH ticketing or online at www.artsticket.com.tw. The Double Ten Day performance is sold out.
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