Program booklet for the event
Bruckner's symphonies in their original sound
Studying
Anton Bruckner turned to symphony late in life. He composed the Symphony in F minor, his first work, in 1863 at the age of 38 at the end of his two-year training period with Otto Kitzler in Linz, which earned it the nickname "Study Symphony". Bruckner himself obviously regarded the work, which, despite all the influences of musical tradition that naturally found expression here, already had an individual signature and an unconventional tone, as his "journeyman's piece" and initially made active efforts to have it performed.
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's Sinfonia VIII in D major, which was clearly influenced by Wolfgang Amadé Mozart, was also written in 1822 for practice purposes during composition lessons with Carl Friedrich Zelter. The only one among the twelve "string symphonies", the 13-year-old expanded it to include wind parts by 1823, thus transforming it into his first 'full-fledged' symphony. In contrast, Ludwig van Beethoven began writing a piano concerto in 1786 at the age of 15 to introduce himself to the public as a pianist and composer. He spent 15 years revising the work, which was based on the models of Viennese Classicism. It was not until 1801 that it appeared in print as Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat major, although it is actually the first.
The three "study works" with which their composers worked out the respective genre will be performed, conducted by Stefan Gottfried and with keyboard virtuoso Kristian Bezuidenhout, a veritable original sound star, by the Concentus Musicus Wien, which played works by Bruckner for the first time in its history at the 2018 International Brucknerfest Linz and has since been a regular guest again at the Brucknerhaus Linz after a break of well over a decade.
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809–1847)
Sinfonia VIII ("String Symphony", in the version with winds) in D major, MWV N 8 (1822-23)
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 2 in B flat major, op. 19 (1786-92, rev. 1793, 1794-95, 1798, 1801)
– Intermission –
Anton Bruckner (1824–1896)
Symphony ("Study Symphony") in F minor, WAB 99 (1863)
Kristian Bezuidenhout | Piano
Concentus Musicus Wien
Stefan Gottfried | Conductor