Vladimir Jurowski

Abo E
Bamberg, Konzerthalle, Joseph-Keilberth-Saal
17:00 Uhr

It is a great honour for us to welcome the General Music Director of the Bavarian State Opera as a guest conductor in Bamberg – and yet this connects with the history of the orchestra, for Joseph Keilberth was also Principal Conductor at Munich’s leading opera house during his time in Bamberg. Vladimir Jurowski makes his debut with us with a piece that was celebrated as the »crown of 19th-century music« immediately after its premiere: Anton Bruckner’s Eighth Symphony, the first version of which he completed in 1887 and dedicated to Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria. The composer himself called the piece a »mystery«, and the symphony is occasionally referred to as the »Apocalyptic« – and both these characterisations ring true: it combines solemn passages with folksy episodes, but also desperate abysses with themes of death and a hymnal Adagio. There are also highly energetic passages and, at times, a vigorous, pounding rhythm – which, however, concludes brilliantly and optimistically. Not surprisingly, Bruckner’s contemporary Richard Wagner once spoke highly of his colleague, saying: »I know of only one who can match Beethoven, and that is Bruckner.« Overall, a visually powerful and highly romantic flow of music unfolds, which, like many other pieces written by the Austrian composer, is truly moving – as the legendary conductor Sergiu Celibidache once summed up with these words: »At the end of a Bruckner symphony, we experience a sense of perfection – the feeling of having passed through everything.«

Vladimir Jurowski Conductor

Anton Bruckner Symphonie Nr. 8 c-Moll