Throughout his life, Bruckner was devoted to the music of Wagner; at the time of Wagner’s death, he was working on his Seventh Symphony, which became his elegy to his musical hero. The symphony opens with a broad and serene melody on the cellos, described by Julian Johnson as a “complete, divinely given melodic whole”, which is conjured out of a near-silent string tremolando. The lyrical and heart-rending second movement is permeated with the essence of the Catholic liturgy, with the orchestra intimating the timbre of a church organ and choir. The movement also introduces a quartet of Wagner tubas, which reappears in the final movement as part of a blazing fanfare.
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Kurt Masur
Find out more about conductor Kurt Masur and his work with the Orchestra








