Bernard Haitink, the conductor on this album, is a highly celebrated conductor with an international career spanning over five decades, holding prestigious positions with major orchestras worldwide.
Composer's Artistic Vision
The Fifth Symphony is about overcoming the fear of death through faith, incorporating principal motives from Mozart's Requiem and themes from Bruckner's own masses.
Compositional Technique
The Fifth Symphony features a highly complicated structure, including passages with tenfold counterpoint and a unique blend of sonata and organ fantasy forms.
Composer Biography
Anton Bruckner, the composer, moved to Vienna in 1868 and initially struggled to advance his career, working as an unpaid court organist candidate and only receiving a salary as a professor.
Composition History
Bruckner began his Symphony No. 5 in February 1875, completed a first version 15 months later, but then set it aside to revise his four previous symphonies before finishing the Fifth in November 1878.
Performer Biography
The Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, the orchestra on this recording, was ranked among the top ten orchestras in the world by 'Gramophone' magazine in 2008.
Compositional Technique
The Finale of Bruckner's Fifth Symphony includes a solemn brass chorale that leads into what is described as the grandest orchestral fugue of the 19th century.
