Andris Nelsons conducts Mahler Symphony No. 8

Mahler’s Eighth Symphony, the so-called “Symphony of a Thousand” for eight soloists, large chorus, children’s chorus, organ, and orchestra, was the composer’s most ambitious work philosophically as well as musically. By pairing in this oratorio-like work – a vast setting of the hymn “Veni, creator spiritus” – with the redemptive final scene of Goethe’s Faust, Mahler strives for the widest possible scope of spiritual optimism.