On this broadcast, we present the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s multiple Grammy Award-winning release of Mahler’s Eighth Symphony, the Symphony of a Thousand. This work was recorded at the Sofiensaal in Vienna during the Orchestra’s first tour to Europe in the fall of 1971, under the baton of eighth music director Georg Solti (he would be knighted the following year).
Solti Conducts Mahler 8
Fidelio recording session with Solti conducting (Photo: Robert Lightfoot)
Playlist
All works conducted by Sir Georg Solti
Mozart: Symphony No. 39 in E-Flat Major, K. 543
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 8 in E-flat Major (Symphony of a Thousand)
Heather Harper, soprano; Lucia Popp, soprano; Arleen Augér, soprano; Yvonne Minton, contralto; Helen Watts, contralto; René Kollo, tenor; John Shirley-Quirk, baritone; Martti Talvela, bass; Wiener Staatsophernchor; Norman Balatsch, director; Wiener Singverein; Helmut Froschauer, director