Brunel Sinfonia - Mahler 8

[techniquest]

The Brunel Sinfonia team up with choirs from across Bristol and Gloucestershire to perform Mahler's 8th Symphony at the Colston Hall, Bristol on Sunday March 24th. My ticket's booked - anyone else going? 

[dave1944]

I envy you - I wish I could go - unfortunately I now live near Perth in Western Australia. I was at Bath University in 1968 and used to go to concerts in the Colston Hall. It was there that I was first introduced to Mahler - M1 - and have been a huge enthusiast ever since. Please let me know how you enjoyed M8.

[techniquest]

I had a great time at the Colston Hall in Bristol (UK) last night for the performance of Mahler's 8th. It's not a professional orchestra, nor were they professional choirs and there were times when sections of the orchestra in particular got lost or stopped altogether. Somehow though they managed to get through without having to come to a full stop and restart and I suppose if you didn't know the work at all they'd have got away with it!
The soloists were excellent, especially the ladies, and I have heard professional recordings that don't have as good soloists as these, and the massed choirs absolutely put their hearts and souls into it. The Colston Hall isn't a massive venue and when it has a band of around 500 performers along with a proper pipe organ, you can imagine the volume that this produced. I have to say that I have never been to a louder 'classical' concert in all my life. Yes it was rather ropey in places, yes the strings sounded like a school orchestra rather too much of the time, yes there were a lot of fluffed notes in the brass, and yes - oddly - the bass clarinet was really loud throughout, but YES it was fantastic!