The structure of the work is unconventional instead of the normal framework of several movements, the piece is in two parts. The Eighth, marking the end of the middle period, returns to a combination of orchestra and voice in a symphonic context. In his 'middle' compositional period after 1901, a change of style led him to produce three purely instrumental symphonies. The fusion of song and symphony had been a characteristic of Mahler's early works. The last of Mahler's works that was premiered in his lifetime, the symphony was a critical and popular success when he conducted the Munich Philharmonic in its first performance, in Munich, on 12 September 1910. The work was composed in a single inspired burst at his Maiernigg villa in southern Austria in the summer of 1906. Because it requires huge instrumental and vocal forces it is frequently called the ' Symphony of a Thousand', although the work is normally presented with far fewer than a thousand performers and the composer did not sanction that name. 8 in E-flat major by Gustav Mahler is one of the largest-scale choral works in the classical concert repertoire.

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