Simon Rattle - Mahler: Symphony No. 8 (2005)

With this release Sir Simon Rattle completes his cycle of the Mahler symphonies for EMI. It’s been a long journey, one that started back in 1980 when he made his first recording of Deryck Cooke’s performing version of the Tenth Symphony – a score that, like the Resurrection Symphony, has always been especially close to Rattle’s heart. It’s been pointed out several times how carefully Rattle has built his career. There’s been a great deal of calculation on his part ... and I do not use that term pejoratively. He stayed in Birmingham for 18 years, building his career and the orchestra when it would have been so easy for him to have taken one of the plum posts undoubtedly offered to him over the years.

So, too, it has been with Mahler. He has been patient in his preparation of these scores and has not rushed his fences. For example, he first performed the Fifth a good number of years ago, by his own admission didn’t do it very well and so put it to one side until he judged he was ready to have another go.

The Eighth was the last of the symphonies to be taken into his repertoire. I was lucky enough to be present in Symphony Hall on the night in August 2002 that he performed it for the very first time. Many of those performers feature on this recording too. Only one soloist has changed: Juliane Banse replaces Rosemary Joshua. But there has been one very important change. Back in 2002 the orchestra was the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain (who performed superbly for Rattle) but now he has his old orchestra, the CBSO, at his command.

With a work as complex and unique as Mahler’s Eighth it’s impossible to suggest a "best buy," I think. Indeed, it could almost be an impertinence. We are lucky indeed that three such fine recordings, albeit very different ones, are available. Mahler enthusiasts will want to hear all three for each sheds fresh light on this amazing score.

Though one may not agree with every detail, this new recording is a formidable achievement and a fitting culmination to Sir Simon Rattle’s recorded survey of the Mahler symphonies. Like Solti’s version was for three decades (and in many ways still remains) this new recording will, I suspect, become a benchmark. It’s not the last word on Mahler’s Eighth (there never can be a "last word" on this piece, nor on any work of performing art) but it’s a recording by one of the most thought-provoking Mahlerians of our day and one that demands to be heard.

Superbly performed by all concerned and expertly recorded by EMI’s engineers, I recommend this CD with great enthusiasm.