MAHLER: SYMPHONY NO. 8. Elizabeth Connell, Edith...

MAHLER: SYMPHONY NO. 8. Elizabeth Connell, Edith Wiens, Felicity Lott, Trudelise Schmidt, Nadine Denize, Richard Versalle, Jorma Hynninen, Hans Sotin; Tiffin School Boys’ Choir; London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir conducted by Klaus Tennstedt. Angel DSB-47625 (two records). This final installment of the East German conductor’s Mahler symphony cycle emerges as one of his more idiosyncratic and cogent efforts, even if cogency apparently played a minor part in the composer’s rambling, gigantic philosophical exegesis on earthly vexation and spiritual redemption. Raw bravura is lacking; Tennstedt misses the sheer impetuousness of the opening “Veni, Creator Spiritus” (the closing measures seem jumbled). Yet, he contributes an expansively phrased, increasingly radiant reading of the lengthy Goethe-inspired second movement, leading to a shattering climax. Versalle strains and gasps his way through Doctor Marianus’ vision of the afterlife, but Hynninen’s eloquent Pater ecstaticus and Wiens’ soaring penitent are memorable. The slightly distant concert-hall sonics allow for remarkable spatial depth.