Ten years ago today, UMS audiences began a great experiment — the Royal Shakespeare Company presenting four Shakespeare History plays (Henry VI, parts i, ii, and iii, and Richard III) over the course of 27 hours with lunch and dinner breaks built in. The productions, directed by now-RSC artistic director Michael Boyd, marked the beginning of a long relationship between the University of Michigan and Ann Arbor with the RSC. Over the past decade, this partnership has included three major residencies, as well as workshopping new plays on the U-M campus.  Each residency was accompanied by dozens of free educational events for students and the public-at-large.

Those who were present will no doubt fondly recall some of these images from the productions:

David Oleyowo as Henry VI

Fiona Bell as Joan of Arc, Henry VI, part i

Clive Wood as Duke of York, Henry VI, part iii

Aidan McArdle as Richard III with Fiona Bell as Queen Margaret

The three Henry VI plays were presented at 11 am, 2 pm, and 8 pm on a Saturday, with audiences returning on Sunday for the climactic production of Richard III. (There was also one mid-week cycle, which ran Tuesday, Wednesday [both matinee and evening], and Thursday.) Since that season, UMS’s theater programming has expanded significantly, with an annual commitment to presenting both live and high-definition broadcasts of international theater — including this season’s productions of Richard III and The Comedy of Errors by another British theater company, Propeller.  Like the RSC, Propeller presents contemporary interpretations of Shakespeare and works with an ensemble cast; unlike the RSC, Propeller uses an all-male cast to present the Bard’s works, as would have been the case in Shakespeare’s day.

Richard III opens at the Power Center on Wednesday, March 30, and The Comedy of Errors opens the following evening.  Tickets can be purchased at www.ums.org or by calling 734-764-2538.

Last year UMS had the pleasure of presenting Fondly Do We Hope…Fervently Do We Pray, the 90 minute piece inspired by Abraham Lincoln, created by the Bill T. Jones & Arnie Zane Dance Company. The company was here in Ann Arbor for a week long residency.

Please join us in reviewing some of our very first UMS Lobby posts!

The Creative Process Behind “Fondly Do We Hope…”

Keepin’ up with the Joneses: BTJAZ Dance Co. in Residence

People are Talking: Bill T. Jones & Arnie Zane Dance Company

E. Daniel Long is one of Ann Arbor’s most beloved music teachers. Above,  Mr. Long reminisces about some of his favorite moments on the Hill Auditorium stage and the most important ingredient needed when creating music.

Stay tuned for part two where Mr. Long discusses bringing his students to see performances. His pivotal role in promoting student attendance of live music helped UMS form our Youth Education Department.

You never know WHO you’ll meet at a UMS concert!   Take, for example, longtime UMS patrons Henry & Lana Pollack who met during a Choral Union concert in 1960 — and were married three years later in 1963!  Both have been leaders in the Michigan community, Henry as a professor of Geology at U-M and Lana through her service in Michigan government and her role as an environmental advocate.  We are so honored to have them share their story with us.

Mrs. James Stewart, Pianist Richard Bonynge, Joan Sutherland, Helen Hayes and UMS President Gail Rector backstage at Hill Auditorium at her January 30, 1970 recital.

This week, we were sad to hear the news of soprano Joan Sutherland’s passing on Sunday.

Ms. Sutherland appeared at UMS three times throughout her career. She opened the 1964 May Festival as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra under the baton of Eugene Ormandy, performing arias from La Traviata and Lucia di Lammermoor, and returned twice for recital appearances in January 1970 and October 1979.

Were you at any of her UMS performances, or did you enjoy performances by her in other cities? Feel free to share your memories here.

Over the past several years, Julie Wallace has worked as a member of our student staff in the UMS ticket office and in the office of the President, providing enthusiastic and creative support to UMS’s ongoing endeavors.  She is a lover of dance and musical theater, and she describes in this video how UMS continued to nurture that love of dance.  Julie notes, “I couldn’t imagine college without UMS.”

Multi-media dominatrix Laurie Anderson opened the 1999/2000 UMS season with three performances of Songs and Stories from Moby Dick in the Power Center.  The piece took Melville’s great novel as its inspiration, with Anderson’s signature penchant for the technological edge highlighted by the debut of the “Talking Stick,” a digital sampling machine that could replicate virtually any sound at a granular level.  Anderson’s interest in developing the piece evolved because she was working on a project for high school kids about books with another producer (the project never materialized).  She chose Moby Dick, remembering the novel’s obsessive captain, but also remembering, with dread, the incredible detail about the whaling industry and its technical paraphernalia.  She was completely captivated by the novel as an adult, read it five times, and began to hear the music and lyricism in the author’s voice.  From that experience, she began her largest undertaking in 15 years.

This production was Laurie Anderson’s UMS debut (she has since appeared in 2002 with Happiness and in 2004 with The End of the Moon, and returns in January with Delusion).  As a relative newcomer to the staff at that time, I traveled a few months before her Ann Arbor production to see the work in Philadelphia, at the Prince Theater.  A night or two before I saw it, the actor playing Captain Ahab miscalculated the edge of the stage and fell into the orchestra pit, breaking his leg.  I don’t recall the details of what happened that particular night — I think they canceled the performance — but by the time I arrived in Philadelphia, the actor was back on stage, manipulating his crutches through a surprisingly complicated stage choreography and making it seem as though that had been part of the design from the beginning.  It turns out that although Captain Ahab is probably the most famous one-legged captain in literature, Anderson’s team had not considered using crutches until the accident forced the issue.  By the time I saw the production in Ann Arbor several months later, the crutches had become an integral prop, perfectly incorporated into the storytelling.

Anderson’s ironic sense of humor permeated Moby Dick.  In the program notes for the work, she noted, “Being a somewhat dark person myself, I love the idea that what you look for your whole life will eventually eat you alive.”

This performance brings back so many strong memories for me: how gracious Laurie Anderson was to break from tech rehearsals to give an interview to a public television TV show, how she willingly went to Detroit for a 20-minute interview on WDET, her generosity in allowing selected classes to see a dress rehearsal of the work in tech week.  I also remember seeing an internet ticket order come in from somebody who lived in the same small town in Wisconsin where I grew up.  This was in the early days of e-commerce, and it was shocking to see an address that was literally down the street from my childhood home, from someone renting an apartment in my late great-uncle’s house.  Songs and Stories from Moby Dick was an incredible introduction to Laurie Anderson’s work and an amazing way to kick off the UMS season.

Beverly Sills

This Day in UMS History – September 23, 1977
Hill Auditorium

Beverly Sills, soprano
Charles Wadsworth, piano

Let the Bright Seraphim from Samson–Handel
Un moto di gioia, K. 579–Mozart
Bester Jüngling from Der Schauspieldirektor, K. 486–Mozart
Alleluia from Exsultate Jubilate, K. 165–Mozart

Many artists presented by UMS over its 132-year history have a long and rich history of performances with the organization. Soprano Beverly Sills was certainly no exception. Throughout the 1970s, Beverly Sills made numerous appearances under UMS auspices, culminating with this, her final appearance in 1977, just a few short years before announcing her retirement in 1980.

The late 60s and early to mid 70s were considered the high points of Beverly Sills’ career, as evidenced by her appearance on the cover of Time magazine in 1971, where she was described as “America’s Queen of Opera.” Beverly Sills’ first UMS appearance on January 30, 1971 was also a solo recital with Charles Wadsworth accompanying her on piano. On that particular program, Sills sang three arias from Handel’s opera seria Giulio Cesare. It is interesting to note that in 1966, Sills’ performance as Cleopatra in the New York City Opera’s revival of Handel’s then virtually unknown Giulio Cesare, is what many argue made her an international opera star.

Her final UMS program featured an aria from Handel’s oratorio Samson, considered by many to be one of Handel’s finest dramatic works, as well as three pieces by Mozart: concert aria “Un moto di gioia”, “Bester Jüngling” from the comic singspiel Der Schauspieldirektor (one of the only four vocal numbers in that piece), and “Alleluia” from the final allegro section of Mozart’s religious solo motet Exsultate Jubilate.

Following her retirement from performing, Beverly Sills remained quite active with the New York City Opera, serving on their board until 1991. Following that, she also served as chairman of Lincoln Center until 2002, and then as chairman of the Metropolitan Opera. Beverly Sills lost her battle with lung cancer on July 2, 2007 at the age of 78.

I hope you will take a moment to enjoy the video below and hear for yourself (if you weren’t able to attend any of her UMS performances!) the beauty and purity of tone of Beverly Sills’ voice as she sings one of my all-time favorite Mozart arias “Ruhe sanft, mein holdes Leben” from Zaide.

Editor’s note: The New York Philharmonic returns to Ann Arbor for three performances October 9-11, 2015.

This Day in UMS History

September 21, 1969
Hill Auditorium

New York Philharmonic
Seiji Ozawa, conductor
André Watts, piano

Overture to Il Seraglio – Mozart
Concerto No. 3 in d minor for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 30 – Rachmaninoff
Concerto for Orchestra – Bartok

Seiji Ozawa has been in the news often lately, most recently for the celebration of his 75th birthday on September 1 this year, and on his anticipated return to the podium after battling esophageal cancer and undergoing surgery for it in January. Maestro Ozawa has performed six times at Hill Auditorium: he made his UMS debut in November 1966 while music director of the Toronto Symphony (and returned with them the following season in March 1968), came back again in September 1969 for this concert with the New York Philharmonic and Andre Watts, and returned three more times as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in April 1975, March 1983, and February 1996.

At a young 21 years-old in 1969, this concert marked André Watts‘ UMS debut, beginning a rich history of orchestral, chamber music, and recital appearances in Ann Arbor.  At the time, his musical career was growing rapidly, having just signed a long-term exclusive contract with Columbia Masterworks Records.  Mr. Watts returned to Ann Arbor for three May Festival appearances (1971 and 1976 with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Eugene Ormandy, and in 1992 with the Detroit Symphony and Neeme Jarvi, four recitals (1974, 1982, 1986, and 1988), and two chamber music concerts in 1993 and 1997.  Mr. Watts joined the faculty of the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in 2004.

One of my most memorable orchestral performances in my own concert-going history was in February 2005 when the New York Philharmonic returned to Ann Arbor (for their 13th of 16 UMS appearances) for a performance of one of my favorite symphonies: Mahler’s Symphony No. 5. My first classical recordings were a set of Rachmaninoff’s complete works for piano and orchestra that I “borrowed” from my grandmother’s music collection. Can you imagine how excited I am to hear next month’s Mariinsky Orchestra performances of Mahler Fifth Symphony and Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto?

A video performance of André Watts performing the Rachmaninoff d-minor Concerto is not available, but you can listen to a clip of his famous (and rare!) “Ossia” Finale here, performed with the New York Philharmonic under the baton of Seiji Ozawa:

You can also purchase the full recording here.

“This Day in UMS History” is an occasional series of vignettes drawn from UMS’s historical archive. If you have a personal story or particular memory from attending the performance featured here — or any memories of the appearances by the New York Philharmonic, Seiji Ozawa, or Andre Watts in Ann Arbor — we’d love to hear from you in the comments!

Today, August 23, is UMS Online Single Ticket Day! As of 10am today, you can purchase tickets for events on our upcoming 2010/11 season on our website. Beginning at 10am on Wednesday, August 25, you can purchase tickets on the phone and in-person at our ticket office at the Michigan League.

Single Ticket Day in Burton Tower, 1979

The ticket-buying process has seen much change over our 132 years with new developments in technology: the telephone, printers, computers, and most recently, the internet!

In honor of Single Ticket Day, we dug deep into our photo archive to share photos of past Single Ticket Days with you. When viewing the slide show below, click the button on the bottom right to make it full screen, then click “Show Info” at the upper right corner to see captions of the photos.

One of the most exciting things about Single Ticket Day for the UMS staff is hearing what shows you’re excited about. So tell us–what tickets are you buying today?

Need suggestions? Want to try something new? Take a look at some of our Staff Picks here on www.umslobby.org to hear what we’re excited about!

Haven’t seen our Single Ticket Brochure yet? Click here to check it out!

“I make dances because it briefly frees me from coping with the real world, because it’s possible to build a whole new universe with steps, because I want people to know about themselves, and even because it’s a thrilling relief to see how fast each of my risk-taking dancers can recover after a pratfall.” –Paul Taylor

Paul Taylor at 80

Today marks the 80^th birthday of Paul Taylor, artistic director of the Paul Taylor Dance Company.  Mr. Taylor has been dancing and choreographing for over 60 years, enjoying a career that has fundamentally shaped the development of modern dance in America.  In honor of Mr. Taylor’s extensive contributions to both modern dance and dance education, and in celebration of such a landmark birthday, we’ve compiled a history of the previous appearances of the Paul Taylor Dance Company at UMS.

The Paul Taylor Dance Company has made 14 appearances on UMS stages since its debut performance in 1964.  But if you bought tickets to Mr. Taylor’s performance in the 1964 or the 1965 UMS seasons, when Mr. Taylor was still dancing with his own company, you wouldn’t have watched his work from a seat in the Power Center.  Although the idea of building a proscenium stage in Ann Arbor to accommodate performers like the Paul Taylor Dance Company was conceived in 1963, the Power Center wasn’t completed until 1971.  Prior to its completion, UMS actually built a makeshift, portable proscenium arch for use in Rackham and Hill Auditoriums when normal stage orientations in those venues weren’t suitable for certain artists.

Hill Auditorium, as it would have been for Paul Taylor Dance Co. (year unknown)

Mr. Taylor’s first appearances in Ann Arbor were actually a part of the Third and Fourth Annual Chamber Dance Festival, performed in Rackham Auditorium.  As described in the program for the 1966 festival, “In 1962 the University Musical Society inaugurated a ‘Chamber Dance Festival’ with three presentations within three consecutive days, of special dance programs in Rackham Auditorium.  An extended stage, constructed by the University, together with special curtains and lighting provided by the Tobins Lake Studios, made this possible. […] The audiences this year are the largest to attend the annual Dance Festival.  With this kind of encouragement and support the University Musical Society will continue its endeavors in the presentation of the finest dance groups available.”

The top ticket price for the entire series in 1964?  $6.00.  If you were only interested in the Paul Taylor performance, single tickets could be purchased for a top price of $3.50.  Just prior to Mr. Taylor’s debut performance, Igor Stravinsky guest conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra performing his piece “Perséphone” at the 71^st May Festival.  1964 was also the year the School of Music moved to facilities on North Campus.

When the Paul Taylor Dance Company returned to Ann Arbor in 1975, one year after Mr. Taylor retired as a performer, the company performed as part of the Fifth Annual Choice Series – this time in the new Power Center.  Started in 1970, the Choice Series included jazz, international music, soloists, and dance performances throughout the UMS season each year.  The Paul Taylor Dance Company performance on March 12, 1975 was just under one year after the 150^th Anniversary of the founding of Ann Arbor, celebrated at the previous year’s May Festival.

Mr. Taylor returned to Ann Arbor for two performances in 1979, another important year for both UMS and the city of Ann Arbor.   In 1979 the city of Ann Arbor purchased the Michigan Theater to keep the struggling venue from being converted into a shopping mall, and the 1978/1979 season was the 100^th Concert Season at UMS.  The Paul Taylor Dance Company gave two performances in January of 1979, each with completely different repertoire.  The January 27^th performance included his work Polaris; the program note for the performance reads, “The choreography for Part II is an exact repeat of Part I.  The only difference is the change of cast, music, and lighting.  An opportunity is offered to observe the multiple effects that music, lighting, and individual interpretations by the performers have on a single dance.”  Mr. Taylor also led two master classes in the U-M Dance Department that year, and returned for additional residencies in 1982, 1984, 1989, and 2004.

UMS is thrilled to bring the Paul Taylor Dance Company back to Ann Arbor this fall and continue to showcase Mr. Taylor’s expertise, artistic achievement, and contributions to modern American dance.  Many friends and colleagues of Paul Taylor have left their birthday greetings on his website.

Happy Birthday, Paul Taylor!

Finally–the time has come! Thanks to the Ann Arbor District Library, we launched the beginnings of the UMS digital archive!

UMS President Ken Fischer launched the archive March 14, 2010, with a special talk about UMS’s history.  You can watch the whole thing here:

Baby-duty in the Hill Auditorium Lobby, 1974 May Festival

The AADL has digitized the first 100 years of UMS concert programs as well as hundreds of photos from our photo archive.  It’s a work in progress, but we couldn’t wait to share it with you.

The AADL is building a searchable database so that we can link all of this great history together. We’re also continuing to scan and tag photos, and making plans to digitize our old-fashioned card catalog of artists and repertoire, so that you can pick your favorite symphony and search for every time it was performed on our stages and by whom!

A quick walk through of the site.

Along the left hand side, you’ll see a menu with a few options:

Browse Programs: Here, you’ll find a comprehensive list of every concert from our first season through the 1978/1979 season. Click on a program, and you’ll see images of the concert program. Click on the images, and they will enlarge and given you an option to view them in full-screen.

Search Programs: Here, you’ll find a simple search box. Type in a keyword: a date, artist, piece title, composer, venue–click “search,” and it will pull up every program that matches your keyword. (Remember–it only covers programs through the 1978/79 season so far.)

Browse Images: My favorite! Scroll down to the search box and type in a keyword–an artist, company, venue–and it will pull up any photos that are tagged with that keyword. For example–if you type in “Bernstein”–you’ll see photos of Leonard Bernstein, photos of the Bernstein benefit, and tons of scanned contact sheets from his Ann Arbor visits (some of which only a few people have ever seen before!). Click on a photo to enlarge it. NOTE: When your search results appear, make sure to click the button under the search box that says “Show all #” as there may be more photos than the three that appear.

We hope you enjoy playing around with the site, and remember, there is MUCH MORE to come!  Thanks so much to our great partners at the Ann Arbor District Library for helping us share our history. Stay tuned!

Michigan Today has a great feature on the pipe organ in Hill Auditorium (shown at left in its original Ann Arbor home in University Hall, courtesy of the Bentley Library).

Did you know that the organ was manufactured by a Detroit company for the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago (1893)? Or that it contained 3,901 pipe ranging in size from a drinking straw to a tree trunk when it was first built?

Henry Simmons Frieze, the founder of UMS, a professor of Latin, a three-time president of the University of Michigan, and an amateur organist, was the biggest advocate for the acquisition of a world-class organ.  He died before his dream was realized, but Albert Stanley and Francis Kelsey launched a public fundraising campaign that brought the organ to Ann Arbor, where it was named in honor of Henry Simmons Frieze.

Read more about the fascinating history of this beloved instrument.  And tell us about your experiences with and memories of the Hill Auditorium organ in the comments area below.

This Day In UMS – May 11, 1963
Hill Auditorium

The Philadelphia Orchestra
Eugene Ormandy, conductor
Isaac Stern, violinist

Trumpet Voluntary – Purcell
Concerto in e minor for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 64 – Mendelssohn
Concerto No. 1 in D major for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 19 – Prokofiev
Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 73 – Brahms

While virtually everyone recognizes the Mendelssohn violin concerto, Prokofiev’s beautiful first concerto is still somewhat of an unknown piece, eclipsed by his more famous second concerto.  As it happens, I became familiar with the piece through Stern’s own recording; I have never heard the entire concerto performed live.

It’s interesting to note the difference which chronological perspective makes on one’s criticism of a piece.  For me, first approaching it with late 20^th century ears, it sounded modern – stark (a bit reminiscent of the opening of the Sibelius violin concerto with the quiet string background, and possibly of Debussy as well in its tone colors) and perhaps a bit harsh.  However, I discovered that when it was first composed, it was rejected as being too Romantic; one critic even damned it as being “Mendelssohnian.”  I wonder what such critics made of the hopelessly romantic (and lovely) second movement of the second violin concerto.  I also wonder whether Stern viewed the concerto as harking back to Mendelssohn, and whether any similarity (or perhaps difference) was behind his programming the two concerti on the same concert.

Stern, of course, had a long history with UMS, with his first performance in Hill Auditorium in 1947, four years after his Carnegie Hall debut at age 23.  He subsequently appeared 11 additional times (five recitals and six orchestral performances), with his last performance in 1992.  In 2000, he was presented with the UMS Distinguished Artist Award at the Ford Honors Program.

While a video recording of Isaac Stern performing Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No.1 isn’t currently available, you can hear Vadim Repin here:

“This Day in UMS History” is an occasional series of vignettes drawn from UMS’s historical archive.   If you have a personal story or particular memory from attending the performance featured here — or any memories of Isaac Stern’s many appearances in Ann Arbor — we’d love to hear from you in the comments.

Sunday, May 6, 1962
Hill Auditorium

The Philadelphia Orchestra
The University Choral Union
Thor Johnson, Guest Conductor

Phyllis Curtin, soprano
Lili Chookasian, contralto
Richard Lewis, tenor
Donald Gramm, bass-baritone

Antonin Dvořák’s Requiem Mass, Op. 89

I’m always curious when I stumble across pieces that I’d never heard of.  I know and love Mozart’s, Brahms’s, Verdi’s, and Victoria’s Requiems (and know and intensely dislike Berlioz’), but I never knew that Dvořák had even written one.  I immediately searched for it on YouTube, and am listening to it as I write this; the Introitus sounds like the Lord of the Rings soundtrack.

If you’re interested in choral music and/or text in music, a fascinating project is to compare different settings of the Requiem text – it’s startling to see how differently composers deal with the exact same text (the Brahms Requiem, of course, is ineligible for that exact comparison, as the text is different ).  Such a comparison is equally possible with the mass text – try Mozart’s Great Mass in c minor, K. 427 with Bach’s Mass in b minor and William Byrd’s Mass for Five Voices.

This concert came in the midst of a series of themed concerts with the Philadelphia Orchestra that May.  With various conductors and soloists, the orchestra presented all-Beethoven and all-Strauss concerts, along with evenings of music by British, French, and Russian composers.  Back in the 1960s, the annual May Festival ended the regular UMS season, with six different concerts in four days (Thursday, Friday, Saturday afternoon, Saturday evening, Sunday afternoon, and Sunday evening).  After presenting the Dvorák Requiem at 2:30 pm on Sunday, May 6, the Philadelphia Orchestra returned for an evening performance that featured Richard Strauss’s Don Juan and Ein Heldenleben, as well as his Burleske in d minor for Piano and Orchestra, performed by the great Hungarian pianist György Sándor, who performed in 16 UMS concerts from 1958-1981.

“This Day in UMS History” is an occasional series of vignettes drawn from UMS’s historical archive.   If you have a personal story or particular memory from attending the performance featured here, we’d love to hear from you in the comments.

Hill Auditorium
March 23, 1997

Mahler 8 Performed at Hill Auditorium (1997)

Mahler’s Symphony No. 8
Grand Rapids Symphony
Catherine Comet, conductor
UMS Choral Union
Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus
Grand Rapids Choir of Men and Boys
Boychoir of Ann Arbor

Leafing through the 1997 program book for a March event, this concert struck me because of two things: a letter written by Gerald R. Ford and a picture of Gustav Mahler.   Ford, who was the Honorary Chairman of this collaboration between UMS and the Grand Rapids Symphony, recognized with pleasure the cities of Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor, and the organizations that made this evening possible: the Grand Rapids Symphony and UMS.

Even as a professional musician, there’s a shocking amount of music and music history that I simply don’t know. I have performed five Mahler symphonies (1, 2, 3, 5, and 7), but have never heard Mahler 8, arguably his most famous. Shocking, perhaps, but also wonderful to know that music is a well that will never run dry. After spending four hours rehearsing Bartók’s Fourth Quartet yesterday, I listened to his Second Quartet for the first time ever today.  So reading these program notes was an educational experience for me.

Mahler 8 combines two very different texts: the medieval Catholic hymn “Veni creator spiritus” (“Come, Holy Spirit”) and a scene from Goethe’s Faust (in German, of course). The program note says:

“[Mahler] saw no distinction between humanism and religion; in the Symphony No. 8 he sought to emphasize the link between the early Christian belief in the Holy Spirit which descended on the disciples like tongues of fire. Goethe’s Faust, on the other hand, tells of man’s ascent into a god-like state, transformed from mortality and led heavenward by the ‘Eternal-Feminine.’ Goethe altered the original version of the legend so that Faust is not damned for his sins, but is redeemed through the power of Gretchen’s love. Mahler explained, ‘the essence of it really is Goethe’s idea that all love is generative, creative, and that there is a physical and spiritual generation which is the emanation of this “Eros.”’  The kinship between Platonic love and the early Christian concept of God’s love – both of them able to create, edify, and redeem – unifies these two diverse texts into a single philosophical expression.”

The great conductor Leopold Stokowski, who conducted the US premiere (1916), compared the experience of hearing it for the first time with the impression Niagara Falls must have had on the first early explorers.  Mahler said: “Try to describe the whole universe beginning to ring and resound. These are no longer human voices, but planets and suns revolving.”

The heartfelt nature of this piece is indicated in a final quote from the program note:

“Mahler’s wife, Alma, once remarked, ‘Gustav is always on the telephone to God,’ to which his biographer, Michael Kennedy, added, ‘In No. 8 he was on the hot line.”