Blomstedt conducts Schubert and Bruckner

»Curiosity always marks the beginning of a problem that wants to be solved.« (Galileo Galilei) Schubert gradually worked his way up to the grand symphony via his six early symphonies, which engaged curiously with the symphonic tradition – although Schubert naturally was aware of the great contemporary who dominated this genre, once asking himself: »Is anyone still capable of doing anything after Beethoven?« Despite these doubts, he wrote the D major symphony in 1815 for an amateur orchestra in which he himself played the viola – composing it astonishingly quickly in the midst of the »chatter, crashing and banging« of the other players. The result is a composition full of captivating charm, liveliness and individuality. Our second offering is one of Bruckner’s masterpieces. Bruckner’s curiosity about the grand symphonic tradition was ever-present, but like Schubert and many other composers he saw the almost impossibly high bar set by Beethoven's works as a major problem. Vienna’s most famous critic, Eduard Hanslick, who constantly lambasted Bruckner anyway, said that not everyone should »dare to enter this battlefield«. Plagued by scruples, Bruckner did not tackle the genre until he was over 40. And it was his Symphony No. 4, composed in 1874, that finally brought its composer some respect. The moving sound cosmos of the »Romantic« creates a spectacular and atmospheric tone painting of medieval times. The horn blows a morning wake-up call and birds chirp. According to Bruckner, it features a »love-struck boy off to climb up to his lover’s window«, a funeral march and a jaunty hunt. Commenting on the howling storm in the Finale, however, Bruckner said: »I can’t remember myself what I was thinking of when I wrote it!«