Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester / Philippe Jordan

»We couldn’t have known at the time that we were being given a true masterpiece,« said Paul Sacher, who commissioned Bartók’s »Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta«, enthusiastically after the premiere. He was right: the work was so popular that it even appeared in films such as Stanley Kubrick’s »The Shining« and Spike Jonze’s »Being John Malkovich« and became part of pop culture.

Anton Bruckner also celebrated one of his greatest successes during his lifetime with his Symphony No. 4, but many of his works were only truly understood after his death. But the intense soundscape of the »romantic« symphony already won over the critics of the time. Lush melodies and resounding fanfares from the brass section are reminiscent of Richard Wagner’s soundscapes and make the symphony a concert classic to this day.