Junge Symphoniker Hamburg

The Eighth surpasses »all of the master’s other symphonies in terms of intellectual dimension, fertility and grandeur«, Wolf continues. The many scruples and revisions in the work’s creative process had therefore been worthwhile: in fact, the premiere of the Eighth was not only the greatest success of Bruckner’s life. It was also a veritable »victory« over his otherwise stubborn opponents in Vienna. Even his arch-enemy Johannes Brahms is said to have reluctantly admitted: »Bruckner is a great genius after all.«

The symphony offers not only friends of pictorially poetic, overwhelming, emotionally intense soundscapes enough material to rave about (especially in the Adagio!). Lovers of compositional artistry will also get their money’s worth. The motif that rises by a semitone at the beginning of the first movement can be understood as the starting point for all the themes in the work – which are simultaneously layered on top of each other in the powerful final bars of the finale. A feast for all fans of symphonic summit ascents!