Something More

The 200th anniversary of Bruckner’s birth has given listeners throughout Europe a welcome chance to hear many of the lesser-performed works from the composer’s symphonic corpus: in Berlin alone audiences had the opportunity to experience the two unnumbered symphonies – along with the oft-neglected First – under the baton of Christian Thielemann, while a recent concert with Simone Young made a strong case for the original version of the Second. After a year of worthy curious and minor revelations, however, it was a pleasure to return to some of the symphonies on which Bruckner’s reputation for monumentality rests.

It was the Eighth, Bruckner’s final completed masterpiece, that served as the sole work on the program of Andris Nelsons’ most recent guest appearance with the Berlin Philharmonic. Given Mr Nelsons’ credentials as a Bruckner…