Concertgebouw Orchestra – Mahler Festival

“Friday night’s performance of Mahler’s colossal Eighth Symphony can already be credited in the annals as one of the absolute highlights of the Mahler Festival 2025. Klaus Mäkelä led nearly four hundred musicians and singers through the two movements of a symphony that was already labeled Symphonie der Tausend at its premiere (Munich, 1910). And although Mahler himself did not like such epithets, that label nevertheless indicates exactly how the composer employed huge crowds to make clear his message of all-transcending love. And to stick with that persistent nickname for a moment: Klaus Mäkelä, conducting the work for the first time in his career, provided a performance out of thousands on Friday. 

With fantastic choirs from Hilversum, Paris, Rotterdam, and with the intrepid National Children’s and Boys’ Choir, Mäkelä began the intricate polyphonic threads Mahler weaves through the Veni Creator Spiritus with clarity and transparency. Immediately right on tempo, but not too massive so that all lines remained audible. Beautifully supported by the sounds of the great organ and by the Concertgebouw Orchestra, which had this symphony on the lectern for the 32nd time after its premiere under Willem Mengelberg in 1912.”

Trouw, Peter van der Lint. 17 May 2025  ★★★★★


“Who didn’t have goose bumps at the beginning of the second part, with an almost gothic-like tension? Within an hour and a half the holy spirit descended to earth and we all ascended with it. Mäkelä was all eager zest for life, but completely grounded, and conveyed both the ecstasy and the fun of the piece. And there was simply great musicianship. … It is not always easy in this world to believe in exaltation. But the redemption of humanity seemed very close there, Friday night at the Concertgebouw, among all the weary festival-goers, a little magic counts.”

NRC, Eva Peek, 17 May 2025 ★★★★★


PROGRAMME:
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 8
Netherland Radio Choir
Choir of Orchestre de Paris
Netherlands National Children’s Choir
Hailey Clark, Golda Schulz, Miriam Kutrowatz (soprano), Jennifer Johnston, Okka von per Damerau (mezzo-soprano), Giorgio Berrugi, Michael Nagy (baritone), Tareq Nazmi (bass)