Massed strings and large choral groups

Frogman, thanks much. I will give it a read. I probably like the Mahler 8th the least. I recently pinned it down to the abrupt opening of the massed chorus. It is interesting though, that one of my favorite Bruckner works, the Te Deum, opens in a very similar fashion, but rapidly shifts to the soloist.
Mahler done well live is something special indeed. I made the trip to Cleveland this year for the Mahler 3 opening concert. Oh my! 1.5 hours of pure, uninterrupted bliss. Row E, left of center.

Frogman, do you sing in a choir or play an instrument? You said you took part in a Mahler performance.....

Whart, I play clarinets and saxophones. In that particular performance I played the bass clarinet/C clarinet part.

Regards.

I agree, the 4th movement, Chorale, from Beethoven's 9th is a challenge that my system struggles with and always frustrates me when I listen.

Any specific type of speaker recommendations  for what the OP was asking about on this thread? Would electrostatic speakers ( with a power amp that can control them) be the most coherent and articulate for this?