At the climax of very end of the first movement of Mahler’s vast Symphony no. 8, with soloists, choirs and orchestra going flat out, the conductor Peter Oundjian turned round and pointed his baton right at me. Actually, he was looking at my immediate neighbours, the extra brass forces asked to provide an exhilarating finish to both movements. This work requires such huge forces that any performance is a special event, and this was an exceptional and thrilling end to the Royal Scottish National Orchestra’s season.
The work calls for two choirs, each divided into eight parts and a junior chorus. Singers from across Scotland filed into the Usher Hall organ gallery, the large RSNO Chorus augmented with singers from The City of Glasgow Chorus, the Edinburgh Festival Chorus and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, all joined by the RSNO Junior Chorus. An augmented orchestra took to the stage, with nine horns spread right along the back row. Looking towards The Games in July, a strong line-up of eight soloists for this performance was picked from Commonwealth countries. There was a real sense of anticipation as Peter Oundjian raised his baton and Michael Bawtree, at the console of the splendid Usher Hall organ, played the massive Eb major chords to begin a magnificent evening of music.
After three instrumental symphonies, Mahler returned to choral forces as he wanted to tackle the final scene from Goethe’s Faust as Faust’s soul gets rescued from Méphistophélès and is taken up to heaven to receive absolution from the Virgin Mary. Apart from a lengthy orchestral introduction to the second movement, voices are woven into the fabric of this work. To set the scene of holy rapture, Mahler used the Latin Pentecostal hymn Veni creator spitritus arranged for huge forces in a first movement opener, awash with sound.
Although nicknamed “Symphony of a Thousand”, in Edinburgh there were just short of 400 performers, with the first movement belonging to the choirs who were nothing short of thrilling in the opening unison passages, passing antiphonal sounds across the hall and in hushed places too. The sound and diction was clear and bright, and apart from a tiny blip early on, completely together with the orchestra. It was not all sound and fury by any means, and more reflective passages were just as wonderful, the Junior Chorus providing extra welcome vocal colour. After the initial excitement, the music quietened down and the seven soloists took over different themes, generally blending well together. Canadian soprano Erin Wall clearly loved this work, barely referring to her score, her clear voice soaring above the multitude when required. New Zealand tenor Simon O’ Neill, while providing plenty of volume in the right places, sounded a little strained at times. Australian Caitlin Hulcup’s delicious mezzo oozed glorious warmth.