The job well done by Josep Pons

Source Summary

The audience rose to their feet, cheering Josep Pons' last performance as musical director of the Gran Teatre del Liceu. The work chosen for the occasion could not have been more fitting, as a statement of principles: the last symphony Mahler would premiere in his lifetime, the Eighth (he still lacked the profound restraint of the Ninth , premiered posthumously), popularly known as the Symphony of a Thousand , and which is a song of optimism and a return to the natural through Faustian beauty. We could argue whether it is truly a symphony or a cantata. It doesn't matter, because Mahler's genius is displayed at length and breadth in a score that sometimes borders on excess, but which never leaves one indifferent.