Bruckner's symphonies in their original sound
Begin
The juxtaposition of the first works of two 'late symphonists': Anton Bruckner and Johannes Brahms were already 43 years old at the premiere of their 'First' making it clear that the symphonies of these supposed antipodes actually have a common root: Ludwig van Beethoven, whose Coriolan Overture in C minor is not coincidentally followed by the symphonies in the concerto. Each of them in the same key, attacca.
Although Brahms still complained in the early 1870s that he would probably "never compose a symphony" as he "always heard a giant (Beethoven) marching behind him" , he repeatedly worked on a "First Symphony movement which he had sketched in 1862. It was on this basis that he finally completed his Symphony No. 1 in C minor in 1876, a full 14 years later. The influence of the ‘giant’ on the work was so striking that the conductor, Hans von Bülow's, bon mot that it was Beethoven's ‘tenth symphony’ was soon doing the rounds.
Looking back, Bruckner called his Symphony No. 1 in C minor, completed in 1866 and premiered in Linz in 1868, "Das kecke Beserl" . And indeed, what an impetuous work and how revolutionary. In 1865, Bruckner had learned his craft, internalised the compositional tradition and had made the acquaintance of Richard Wagner's music. Equipped with these tools, he forged ahead into new worlds with his first numbered symphony and confidently entered the field of music he claimed held the greatest importance for him: the field of symphonic music.
Directed by Christoph Spering, the New Orchestra presents two symphonic experiments that should prove to be milestones in the development of the genre and thus worthy of the role model greatly admired by their creators.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Overture in C minor to Heinrich Joseph von Collin's tragedy Coriolan, op. 62 (1807)
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Symphony No. 1 in C minor, op. 68 (1862-76, rev. 1877)
- Intermission -
Ludwig van Beethoven
Overture in C minor to Heinrich Joseph von Collin's tragedy Coriolan, op. 62 (1807)
Anton Bruckner (1824-1896)
Symphony No. 1 in C minor, WAB 101 (1865-66) "Linz Version
The New Orchestra
Christoph Spering | Conductor