The Essence of Bruckner

Robert Simpson’s celebrated essays ‘The Essence of Bruckner’ of 1968 compellingly advocated the wonders of Bruckner’s early symphonic work, and especially the Second Symphony. In this newly commissioned version for nineteen players by Anthony Payne — of Elgar 3 fame — the Royal Academy of Music is retrospectively re-igniting Schoenberg’s vision for the pioneering chamber Society for Private Musical Performance. This work joins the brilliant distillation of Mahler’s Fourth Symphony which Trevor Pinnock and Academy students recorded in 2012, and which will appear on the Linn label in May.