Symphony No. 8 by Gustav Mahler | Choral Arts Symphonic Chorus and the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev

Symphony No. 8 by Gustav Mahler Choral Arts Symphonic Chorus and the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev Known as one of the largest-scale choral works in the classical concert repertoire, Gustav Mahler composed the Symphony No. 8 in a burst of inspiration. In an excited letter to a colleague in 1906, he shared: "I have never composed anything like this. I have probably never worked under such compulsion; it was a vision that struck me like lightning. The whole immediately stood before my eyes; I had only to write it down, as if it had been dictated to me." Mahler used the most intimately human instrument, the voice, throughout the entire symphony, to impart themes of divine grace, earthly inadequacy, and spiritual reincarnation.