All nine Mahler masterpieces ranked worst to best <\/p>
There\u2019s no doubt that Mahler<\/a>\u2019s symphonies are among music\u2019s greatest creations, each extraordinarily rich, both orchestrally and thematically. But while none of them are any less than fine, some are undoubtedly better than others. Here\u2019s our ranking of all nine, bottom to top<\/strong><\/p>\n In ninth position is Symphony No. 8.\u00a0 From whatever direction you choose to view it, Mahler\u2019s Eighth is his most outrageously ambitious symphony and, we\u2019d argue, the most self-indulgent of them all. With a vast, colour-enhanced orchestra<\/a><\/strong>, forests of choral voices and enough soloists to fill a lavish grand opera stage, Mahler starts with a medieval invocation to the Holy Spirit, then proceeds to the final scene of Part Two of Goethe\u2019s Faust\u2004\u2013 not just one of the sacred high points of German literature, but set entirely in Heaven, and featuring a special guest appearance by the Virgin Mother of God.<\/p>\n Unsurprisingly some critics have called it pretentious, dismissed Part Two as a paradise of kitsch, or \u2013 wielding a subtler knife \u2013 argued that Mahler simply didn\u2019t do up-beat very well: that he was more truly himself when evoking doubt or despair. Others have found it possible to approach this so-called \u2018Symphony of a Thousand\u2019 with all kinds of mental reservations and still be blown away by the emotion \u2013 ecstatic, sensuous and just a bit unnerving. Is it this that prompts some listeners to raise their critical hackles?<\/p>\n Art is much easier to deal with when we can consider it at a distance, \u2018objectively\u2019. Mahler has a way of digging under defences and shaking us into feeling along with him. \u2018Only when I experience intensely do I compose, and only when I compose do I experience intensely,\u2019 he wrote. You decide\u2026<\/p>\n Best recording: Chicago Symphony Orchestra\/Georg Solti Decca 475 7521<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nThe best Mahler symphonies<\/h2>\n
9. Mahler Symphony No. 8<\/h3>\n