Symphony No. 8 by Gustav Mahler

I'm not that familiar with the works of Mahler, but his 8th symphony is pretty great. It's very pre-Schoenberg early 20th century, with not so much of a melody as a repeating cycle of chord motifs played for emotional impact. I suppose you could call it the classical music equivalent to the impressionist painters - Debussy's work also fits into this category. The popular nickname for this symphony is the "Symphony of a Thousand," because in its original instrumentation it takes 850 choral singers and around 200 symphony members to perform. Damn, Gina! Talk about excess. It's pretty great like I mentioned so if you've got an hour and a half to spare why don't you get some culture in you said the post colonial westerner.

RATING: 78%