\n
Why did Bruckner\u2019s student change his music?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
Five essential works by Bruckner<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
<\/p><\/div> <\/section>
Here Rebecca Frank rates and ranks her favourites<\/p>\n
Which is the best Bruckner symphony?<\/h2>\n
Symphony No. 2 in C minor<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n<p><strong>This symphony\u2019s nickname hints at why this is in last place:<\/strong> this is the so-called symphony of <strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/what-pause\/"\">pauses<\/a><\/strong>, thanks to its numerous rests used for dramatic effect. There\u2019s a definite sense more could happen in this piece. It\u2019s tempting to think of this early work, begun in 1871 and premiered in 1873, as a dress rehearsal for the later symphonies, though others may well find things to enjoy in its four movements. Composer Robert Simpson later noted that \u2018the effect of its breadth and grandeur\u2019 remained with him, for instance.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Symphony No. 1 in C minor<\/strong><\/h3>\n<iframe title=\""Bruckner:\" symphony=\"\" no.1=\"\" wab=\"\" width=\""200"\" height=\""113"\" src=\""https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Q3dlpjwz1rQ?feature=oembed"\" frameborder=\""0"\" allow=\""accelerometer;\" autoplay=\"\" clipboard-write=\"\" encrypted-media=\"\" gyroscope=\"\" picture-in-picture=\"\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/>\n<p><strong>In eighth place is his first symphony<\/strong>. Bruckner was a late starter when it came to symphonies, spending years studying before he felt ready to launch himself officially into the genre. In his forties, with the \u2018Study\u2019 Symphony behind him, he decided that this C minor Symphony (1866) deserved the accolade of being numbered his first. The influence of <strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/composers\/ludwig-van-beethoven\/"\">Beethoven<\/a><\/strong> is clear, yet already the Bruckner hallmarks are there, including one of his insistent <strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/what-scherzo\/"\">scherzos<\/a><\/strong>. He later revised the score when he was in Vienna, but the Linz version is more often heard \u2013 and more strikingly original.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Symphony No. 3 in D minor<\/strong><\/h3>\n<iframe title=\""Anton\" bruckner=\"\" sinfonie=\"\" nr.=\"\" d-moll=\"\" jukka-pekka=\"\" saraste=\"\" wdr=\"\" sinfonieorchester=\"\" width=\""200"\" height=\""113"\" src=\""https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Po3ywYPMTt8?feature=oembed"\" frameborder=\""0"\" allow=\""accelerometer;\" autoplay=\"\" clipboard-write=\"\" encrypted-media=\"\" gyroscope=\"\" picture-in-picture=\"\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/>\n<p><strong>Im seventh place is Symphony No. 3.<\/strong> It\u2019s a composer\u2019s worst nightmare: the new piece they\u2019ve been working on for years is finally premiered, by one of the <strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/worlds-best-orchestras\/"\">world\u2019s great orchestras<\/a><\/strong>, and it\u2019s a disaster. The musicians make fun of the music, the audience hisses, then leaves in droves until only 25 are left. The orchestra races offstage. That\u2019s what happened at the 1877 premiere, by the Vienna Philharmonic, of Bruckner\u2019s Third. Dedicated to his idol <strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/composers\/richard-wagner-2\/"\">Wagner<\/a><\/strong>, \u2018the unreachable world-famous sublime master of poetry and music\u2019, the symphony is often seen as Bruckner\u2019s breakthrough piece \u2013 but that was hard won. He began work on it in 1873, before revising it again and again until it reached its final form in 1889.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Symphony No. 4 in E flat major<\/strong><\/h3>\n<iframe title=\""Anton\" bruckner=\"\" symphony=\"\" no.=\"\" in=\"\" e=\"\" flat=\"\" major=\"\" daniel=\"\" barenboim=\"\" and=\"\" staatskapelle=\"\" berlin=\"\" width=\""200"\" height=\""113"\" src=\""https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_R2s4caHz1c?feature=oembed"\" frameborder=\""0"\" allow=\""accelerometer;\" autoplay=\"\" clipboard-write=\"\" encrypted-media=\"\" gyroscope=\"\" picture-in-picture=\"\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/>\n<p><strong>His \u2018Romantic\u2019 symphony is in sixth place<\/strong>. It begins that most typical of Romantic era instruments: the French horn. It symbolises the hunt, so beloved of German Romanticism, while tremolo strings and woodwind solos open a window on the natural world. Bruckner himself later wrote that the first movement was filled with woodland magic, forest murmurs and bird songs, while the Schubertian scherzo is a \u2018rustic love scene and the finale is a \u2018folk festival\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Symphony No. 6 in A major<\/strong><\/h3>\n<iframe title=\""Anton\" bruckner=\"\" symphony=\"\" no.=\"\" in=\"\" a=\"\" major=\"\" daniel=\"\" barenboim=\"\" and=\"\" staatskapelle=\"\" berlin=\"\" width=\""200"\" height=\""113"\" src=\""https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WO6HAwajlNI?feature=oembed"\" frameborder=\""0"\" allow=\""accelerometer;\" autoplay=\"\" clipboard-write=\"\" encrypted-media=\"\" gyroscope=\"\" picture-in-picture=\"\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/>\n<p><strong>\u00a0In fifth place is Symphony No. 6.<\/strong> A vote of confidence for this concise Cinderella symphony, which may never have fully enjoyed the public\u2019s love, but which helped Bruckner recover from the crushing failure of his Third Symphony\u2019s premiere. A nervous string figure sets the four movements on their journey, which takes us via an adagio at once funereal and radiant, into a restless scherzo, ending with a finale that leaves unanswered questions.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Symphony No. 5 in B flat major<\/strong><\/h3>\n<iframe title=\""Anton\" bruckner:=\"\" symphony=\"\" nr.=\"\" in=\"\" b-flat=\"\" major=\"\" wab=\"\" width=\""200"\" height=\""113"\" src=\""https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UJ1a8EHk_Ok?feature=oembed"\" frameborder=\""0"\" allow=\""accelerometer;\" autoplay=\"\" clipboard-write=\"\" encrypted-media=\"\" gyroscope=\"\" picture-in-picture=\"\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/>\n<p><strong>Symphony No. 5 is in fourth place. <\/strong>An incorrigible tinkerer, Bruckner revised many of his symphonies. Not so with the Fifth. He left this 1876 score pretty well alone. Critic Michael Tanner once said that \u2018one you finally \u201cget\u201d the Fifth \u2026\u00a0it is so overwhelming that any adequate account of it has you reaching for superlatives.\u2019 And it is a wonderfully original work, in which Bruckner builds one of his famed \u2018cathedrals of sound\u2019 in the first movement, finds austere beauty in the <strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/musical-terms\/what-is-adagio-in-music\/"\">Adagio<\/a><\/strong>, whirls up a storm in the scherzo, before ending in finale with a blazing conclusion.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Symphony No. 7 in E flat major<\/strong><\/h3>\n<iframe title=\""Anton\" bruckner:=\"\" symphony=\"\" no.=\"\" in=\"\" e=\"\" major=\"\" wiener=\"\" philharmoniker=\"\" width=\""200"\" height=\""113"\" src=\""https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3pioV8yB3iA?feature=oembed"\" frameborder=\""0"\" allow=\""accelerometer;\" autoplay=\"\" clipboard-write=\"\" encrypted-media=\"\" gyroscope=\"\" picture-in-picture=\"\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/>\n<p><strong>In third place is Symphony No. 3.<\/strong> The music for this symphony came to Bruckner in a dream. Or at least its opening theme did, revealed by an old mentor who told him the melody would make his fortune. \u2018I immediately woke up, lit a candle, and wrote it down,\u2019 the composer said. It\u2019s heard in the mysterious and lovely opening to the piece, in which the cellos carry the theme that unfolds over tremolo strings \u2013 and the symphony did change, positively, how Bruckner\u2019s music was viewed. The Seventh is also a homage to Wagner, whom Bruckner finally met in 1882, a year after he began work on the piece. Bruckner claimed the theme for the Adagio (which was later played at his own funeral) came to him along with a premonition of Wagner\u2019s death \u2013 he was proved right a month later.<\/p>\n<p>We named Bruckner\u2019s Symphony No. 7 one of the <strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/20-greatest-symphonies-all-time\/"\">best symphonies ever<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Symphony No. 8 in C minor<\/strong><\/h3>\n<iframe title=\""Bruckner\" symphony=\"\" no.=\"\" in=\"\" c=\"\" minor=\"\" width=\""200"\" height=\""113"\" src=\""https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8Wbf5SVOXI0?feature=oembed"\" frameborder=\""0"\" allow=\""accelerometer;\" autoplay=\"\" clipboard-write=\"\" encrypted-media=\"\" gyroscope=\"\" picture-in-picture=\"\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/>\n<p><strong>Almost top is<\/strong> <strong>Symphony No. 8. <\/strong>One critic at the premiere of the Eighth thought it was written in \u2018nightmarish hangover style\u2019, but it\u2019s since gained a reputation as one of Bruckner\u2019s finest symphonies \u2013 for many, in fact, his greatest. The composer himself was happy with it \u2013 \u2018Hallelujah! \u2026 The finale is the most significant movement of my life,\u2019 he exclaimed. Yet that success was hard won. Bruckner began work on his Eighth in 1884 and carried on revising it until its publication in 1892 (so there\u2019s an array of versions on disc). Its blend of terror and consolation, dark and light makes it an intense \u2013 and intensely rewarding listening experience.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3><strong>And Bruckner\u2019s best symphony is\u00a0 \u2013 (in my opinion!) \u2013 Symphony No. 9 in D minor<\/strong><\/h3>\n<iframe title=\""Bruckner\" :=\"\" symphonie=\"\" n=\"\" haitink=\"\" orchestre=\"\" national=\"\" de=\"\" france=\"\" width=\""200"\" height=\""113"\" src=\""https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/MIJET6NO4-k?feature=oembed"\" frameborder=\""0"\" allow=\""accelerometer;\" autoplay=\"\" clipboard-write=\"\" encrypted-media=\"\" gyroscope=\"\" picture-in-picture=\"\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/>\n<p><strong>How can an incomplete symphony be a composer\u2019s best?<\/strong> A fair question, but this last work, left without its finale when Bruckner died in 1896, arguably says all it needs to say in three movements. The piece is dedicated \u2018to dear God\u2019; Bruckner was a devout Roman Catholic. Two lengthy movements, each around 25 minutes\u2019 long, frame an unsettlingly insistent scherzo. The elemental opening movement is answered by an adagio on a grand scale, encompassing music that probes the depths of troubled angst yet is also visionary. This symphony was, the composer said, his farewell to life. Posthumous completions of the finale, based on surviving sketches, exist, but even without it, this symphony is a towering and satisfying achievement.<\/p>\n<ul><li><strong><a class=\""standard-card-new__article-title"\" href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/recordings\/best-recordings-bruckners-symphony-no9\/"\">The best recordings of Bruckner\u2019s Symphony No.9<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul><p><strong>We named Bruckner one of the<a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/composers\/best-austrian-composers\/"\"> greatest Austrian composers<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<section class=\""highlight\"><div class=\""highlight__content\" editor-content=\"\"> \n<ul><li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/which-is-the-best-vaughan-williams-symphony\/"\">Which is the best Vaughan Williams Symphony?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/which-is-the-best-mahler-symphony\/"\">Which is the best Mahler Symphony?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/composers\/who-wrote-the-first-symphony\/"\">Who wrote the first ever symphony?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul><p> <\/p><\/div> <\/section><\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Rebecca Franks Published: Monday, 01 August 2022 at 12:00 am The great legacy left by Anton Bruckner is his symphony cycle, even if there\u2019s a tendency for people either to love or hate his music. The Austrian composer wrote eleven symphonies in all, but only nine were officially numbered. So for this list, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":18029,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"6"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/08\/which-is-the-best-bruckner-symphony.jpg",200,200,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/08\/which-is-the-best-bruckner-symphony-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/08\/which-is-the-best-bruckner-symphony.jpg",200,200,false],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/08\/which-is-the-best-bruckner-symphony.jpg",200,200,false],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/08\/which-is-the-best-bruckner-symphony.jpg",200,200,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/08\/which-is-the-best-bruckner-symphony.jpg",200,200,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/08\/which-is-the-best-bruckner-symphony.jpg",200,200,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Rebecca Franks Published: Monday, 01 August 2022 at 12:00 am The great legacy left by Anton Bruckner is his symphony cycle, even if there\u2019s a tendency for people either to love or hate his music. The Austrian composer wrote eleven symphonies in all, but only nine were officially numbered. So for this list, the…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/18028"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}