Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | English | Symphony no. 8 in E flat major "Symphony of a Thousand"

Under the baton of Semyon Bychkov, the Czech Philharmonic and a sprawling supporting cast lead listeners up a stairway to heaven. 

Time stands still in Amsterdam as seven soloists and four choirs join forces with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra for one of Mahler's greatest challenges, his Eighth Symphony. 

Sacred and secular, operatic and symphonic dimensions united in a thrilling climax to the London Philharmonic Orchestra's season. 

A well thought-out, fearless, affirmation of hope which drew its listeners ever upwards into the realm of ecstasy.

Doing justice to the vast scale of Mahler's "Symphony of a Thousand" is itself the mightiest of tasks. Semyon Bychkov and his NDR forces only partially succeed.

The May Festival pulls all the stops to close their sesquicentennial season with Mahler’s vast and triumphant Eighth Symphony.

Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla approached the Eighth with a clear vision of the music’s structure and a plan to free the life that teems beneath its mighty vaults.

Spano marshaled the vast forces with sensitive balance in many moments. But the difficulty of achieving a proper blend amidst the thick timbral texture prevented the performance from reaching transcendence.

Mahler's Eighth was the composer’s “gift to the nation”; Dudamel’s performance was a gift to Los Angeles. 

Leading five choirs, fine soloists and a glowing Netherlands Philharmonic, conductor Marc Albrecht emphasised the human struggle in a highly dramatic performance of Mahler’s mammoth eighth symphony.

A superb choral performance and some memorable solo moments bring Mahler's "Symphony of a Thousand" to life, even if the sheer energy of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra turns frantic at times.

Thomas Søndergård’s final performance as chief of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales sees them pull off Mahler 8 in style.

Adrian Partington directs a well-managed but ultimately disjointed performance of Mahler’s most idealistically challenging symphony.

Mahler's epic setting of the final scene from Goethe's Faust is so demanding of musical resources that any performance is a special occasion: what better work to conclude the Orchestra Of Opera North's triumphant 2015-2016 season? 

Boston Symphony Orchestra Music Director Andris Nelsons experienced his first time leading the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra – and hundreds of other performers – in Mahler’s Symphony no. 8.

Singapore’s amazing Orchestra of the Music Makers presents Mahler’s “Gift to the Entire Nation,” his massive Eighth Symphony, as part of the celebrations marking the country’s 50th anniversary as an independent state.

Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts the Philharmonia in a fine account of Mahler's mighty “Symphony of a Thousand”, culminating in a dramatic realisation of Faust's redemption.

Any performance of Mahler's Eighth Symphony is a special event. This one was a thrilling end to the Royal Scottish National Orchestra's season.

Mahler’s Symphony no. 8 had not been heard in Milan for 27 years. Tonight, Riccardo Chailly returned to perform the “Symphony of a Thousand” with his former band, the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi.

The city of Darmstadt is blessed with a theatre that sustains a wide-ranging repertoire of first-class drama, opera and concerts, and the cross-fertilisation of music and theatre was apparent this evening: the concert commenced with a moment of splendid theatricality.

In spite of Mahler's disapproval, his eighth symphony is forever tagged as the "Symphony of a Thousand" because of the immense choirs which perform it.