Symphony No. 8 (Dover Miniature Scores: Orchestral)

Widely regarded as the crowning achievement of his career, Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 received overwhelming recognition at its first performance, conducted by the composer in Munich on September 12, 1910. A massive, complex work that integrates on a truly grand scale the musical ideas, forms, and media that dominated Mahler’s creative life, the symphony — in two great sections — is scored for orchestra, eight solo voices, double chorus, boys’ choir, and organ, with the words for the first section taken from the medieval Latin hymn “Veni, Creator Spiritus.” The text of the second part is from the final scene of Goethe’s Faust. Students, performers, and all lovers of Mahler’s monumental orchestral works will welcome the addition of this fine, conveniently sized edition to their library of great scores.