MAHLER: SYMPHONY NO 8 Eaglen, Schwanewilms, Ziesak, Fulgoni, Larsson, Heppner, Mattei, Rootering. Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Riccardo Chailly – conductor Decca 467 314-2 2 CDs, ££ TPT: 82' 14

A pedestrian first movement, but the remainder contains some expansive and quite magical playing.

Early music specialists have brought about a sea change in musical opinion over the past thirty years or so. The pioneering Roger Norrington will be performing Mahler's First Symphony on period instruments in the not too distant future, and no doubt he will take pains to observe the abundance of meticulous markings in Mahler's score, but does it take a purist or specialist to misinterpret the impetuoso marking of the opening Allegro of the Eighth Symphony so wilfully as Chailly? Compared with Solti's classic account with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the music sounds pedestrian, with little sense of the irrepressible momentum and searing intensity that Solti seems to generate so easily from his performers. Solti is only a minute or so faster in this movement, but the result is so much more compelling than the overall timing might suggest. Nevertheless, try not to judge Chailly's performance on Part I alone as you will be missing some of the most expansive and beautiful playing on disc in the concluding movement.

The orchestral introduction to the second part is breathtakingly atmospheric. The playing of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra is exemplary, as might be expected from an orchestra with an illustrious history of Mahlerians at its helm. It would be invidious to single out any one department, such is the exceptional quality of the playing. Of the soloists, Peter Mattei is a slightly self-contained Pater Ecstaticus and Jan-Hendrik Rootering (Pater Profundus) lacks impact and depth at the lower reaches of his voice. Heldentenor Ben Heppner is a fine Doctor Marius, but he is not the equal of René Kollo for Solti, whose soaring voice seems to have no bounds. The female team is for the most part excellent, though Jane Eaglen sometimes sounds uncomfortable in the upper register. Minor complaints aside, one of the joys of the recording is the feeling of cooperation and not confrontation between the soloists, particularly in the first movement.

Sonically speaking, the present release eclipses all other recordings of the work with its state-of-the-art sound quality. The engineers have managed the seemingly impossible feat of capturing the extremes of scale equally well. From the explosive opening and the almost ceaseless polyphony of Part I to the intimacy of the sparsely-orchestrated introduction of the concluding chorus mysticus, everything is exposed to amazingly good effect. The investors in the emerging multi-channel recording technology need look no further for a more appropriate work or recording to promote it. The spatial effects demanded by Mahler are well suited to the new medium and it is to be hoped that Decca had the good sense to put on tape a multi-channel version and that they will release it soon.

The recording is comprehensively indexed, though the first vocal entry in Part II (about ten minutes into the movement) would have benefited from its own mark. The extensive notes by Donald Mitchell, one of the foremost Mahler scholars, are excellent, and full texts and translations are included.

Mahler wrote to his friend and advocate Mengelberg in 1906, shortly after finishing the symphony: "Try to imagine the whole universe beginning to ring and resound. These are no longer human voices, but planets and suns revolving". Few could disagree that the Eight Symphony is truly greatSphärenmusik and no matter how many recordings you may have, this is one that deserves to be heard.

Stephen Bray