Mahler 8^th Symphony performance – Patrick Thomas

"How vividly I recall the opening of the 1968 Adelaide Festival of Arts.  It was a climax like few others, and not only for the patrons and performers who packed Goodwood's Centennial Hall.  For these two Mahler performances, the likes of which Adelaide had not witnessed before, in terms either of enormity or brilliance of performance, the  artistic accolades were due undoubtedly to Maestro Henry Krips.    The two nights were HIS!  

I was the Co-Chorus Master for the Mahler performances, and for me, these came midway in what was an extended period of intense preparation of repertoire.

......The undoubted piece de resistance of the Festival, was the Mahler "Symphony of a Thousand" in the two performances Henry conducted.   These were an absolute milestone for Adelaide and, with its enormous forces including a combined MSO/SASO, massed choirs and an octet of fine soloists, the "Eighth" attracted hundreds of Mahler buffs from overseas and interstate.  On several Sunday afternoons, Henry and I took it in turns sharing the culmination of the choral preparation.   As Co-Chief Chorus Master with Henry, (your choral records may already show this position) I remember logistically, that the integration of the four or more participating choirs, plus the ABC's augmented Adelaide Singers, was itself a major exercise, though the expansive stage of the Centennial Hall was sufficiently large to accommodate the batallions of performers.

The performances themselves were breathtaking and they remain in my memory as one of Henry Krips' finest hours, and one of the most fantastic memories of Adelaide.  There had been earlier Mahler '8'  performances (e.g., Goossens' in Sydney ca 1951) and occasional others since, but Adelaide's performances under Henry were exciting by any standard.  At moments of climax, one hoped the ceiling of the Centennial Hall would survive the gigantic musical onslaught. 

One little sidelight:    I remember available in the record shops about the mid-1960s, was a new set of LPs of the Mahler 8th conducted by Leonard Bernstein.   Whilst he admired certain qualities of this particular Bernstein interpretation, Henry also had some personal reservations which he circulated in a letter to the soloists and me, cautioning them not to emulate them in his performances!   As himself a devoted and scholarly Mahler interpreter, Henry had his own clear objectives and these proved more than merely musically viable in his landmark Centennial Hall performances at the 1968 Adelaide Festival of Arts."