Despite a depressing decade in Vienna, Bruckner was highly productive, composing four monumental symphonies (Nos. 2 to 5) between 1871 and 1876.
Performer Biography
Stanisław Skrowaczewski's home was bombed during World War II, resulting in a hand injury that ended his keyboard career, leading him to focus on conducting and composing.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Bruckner's enduring faith in a mysterious underlying Divine purpose, sometimes hidden but ultimately revealed, helped him endure ridicule and neglect in Vienna.
Performer Biography
Stanisław Skrowaczewski, the conductor, composed his first symphonic work at age seven and played and conducted Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto at 13.
Compositional Technique
Bruckner's Fifth Symphony, like Beethoven's Ninth, brings back themes from earlier movements in its finale, but Bruckner dismisses them with a cheeky solo clarinet figure.
Composer Biography
Anton Bruckner moved to Vienna at age 44, expecting encouragement and appreciation, but instead found indifference or contempt for his music.
Compositional Technique
Bruckner incorporated chorales, a Protestant form, into his symphonic style, even though they were not typically used in 19th-century Austrian Catholic worship.
