Anton Bruckner, the composer, began his musical education with his father, a schoolmaster and organist, and could replace him at the village organ by age 10.
Composition History
Bruckner frequently revised his symphonies, often due to criticisms from his colleagues, leading to multiple editions of his works, including at least five for Symphony No. 2.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Bruckner's encounter with Wagner's opera Tannhäuser in 1862 deeply impressed him and inspired his symphonic style, which aimed to express elevated spirituality through monumental and grandiose music.
Composition History
Bruckner's Symphony No. 2, featured on this album, was actually the fourth symphony he composed, following an earlier discarded symphony and his official Symphony No. 1.
Composer Biography
Bruckner was 37 years old when he was admitted as a student to the Vienna Conservatory in 1861.
Compositional Technique
Bruckner's Symphony No. 2 marks a turning point in his style, introducing characteristic elements like ostinatos, long progressive crescendos, and a three-theme structure in the outer movements, departing from the traditional two.
Performer Biography
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the conductor, is Music Director of the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, and will become Music Director of the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 2020/2021.
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Bruckner: Symphony No. 4 "Romantic" (1881 Version) [Live at Philharmonie am Gasteig, Munich, 1988]
