Munich Philharmonic / Tugan Sokhiev

• Classical Music

Anton Bruckner had to bow on stage after every single movement at the premiere of his Eighth Symphony – several times. For the composer, whose 200th birthday the music world is celebrating this year, this was a source of satisfaction, as he struggled with composing all his life and suffered setbacks with this work as well. Under the baton of conductor Tugan Sokhiev, the symphony is performed by the Munich Philharmonic, an orchestra with a long Bruckner tradition that brings exactly the right sound to the table.
For once, the self-critical Anton Bruckner was really satisfied with the composition of his Eighth Symphony and sent it to the conductor Herman Levi in the hope of a premiere in Munich – but Levi thought it was terrible. But »perhaps a lot can be achieved by reworking it,« he wrote to the composer. Bruckner promptly reworked the symphony: in the revised version, the score moves towards an imposing finale that takes up all the preceding themes and culminates in a powerful final coda. What could be more fitting for a composer’s anniversary than his last symphony?

Tugan Sokhiev is a huge Bruckner fan himself and will be appearing with several world-class orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic to mark the composer’s milestone birthday. The Munich Philharmonic in turn should soon feel at home at the Elbphilharmonie: the orchestra’s home, the Isarphilharmonie, is not only the South German equivalent of the Elbe in name, but its acoustics were likewise designed by Yasuhiso Toyota.

PERFORMERS

Münchner Philharmoniker orchestra

Tugan Sokhiev conductor

PROGRAM

Anton Bruckner
Symphony No. 8 in C minor (second version)