Yes, I thought M6 was pretty good - great inner movements - but I'm just not happy with how the 'dissolution' of the symphony is handled in the last few minutes of the finale. As is often the case, the brief 'false victory parade' passage went for nothing (Mahler never should have revised that passage), and the rest of it just seems to be a bit fast to really have anything to 'say' about what's happened in the previous 70 minutes of music. The final A-minor outburst at the end of the symphony just seems too fast to me also.
As for M8, I noticed the same high soprano problem you did. But what bothers me more, is that Jansons is so quick to cut-off the final "hinan". The final cymbal/tam-tam smashes are quite good (a bit fast, however), but the cymbals are way in front of the tam-tam on the very final stroke. It just comes off a bit hasty sounding to me. I prefer how Simon Rattle (in Berlin) handles that whole ending.
At some moments, there's great attention to detail. At other moments, Jansons sounds unwilling or uncomfortable with the idea of lingering a bit. There's always this Russian influenced, 'the music must keep moving along' feel about it. Granted, late Maazel goes too far in the other direction.
Still, it's hard argue against the consistency of this cycle. I'm just not sure it really has a lot interesting to say about Mahler at this point. Still, I want listen to the whole cycle in its Wagnerian totality. I just want to make certain I'm not being prejudiced against Jansons, who I find to be a bit of a run-through artist in music, in general.
