Bruckner's seventh symphony

Successful South Korean composer Unsuk Chin was the focus of Konserthuset’s Composer Festival in 2013. She now returns with a newly composed orchestral piece. It is a joint commission from the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester. Entitled SPIRA, the piece is a masterful concerto for orchestra.

After intermission, we will hear Bruckner’s symphonic world through one of his best-known symphonies: the seventh. This symphony was a major turning point in his career and a resounding audience success! It was also the first of his symphonies to be recorded.

Bruckner deeply admired Wagner, and the symphony’s adagio features a melancholy elegy to the masterful composer, who Bruckner idolized. The scherzo is a heavy-footed folkloric dance and features a crowing rooster via the trumpet, while the finale reprises a theme from the introduction.

The concert is conducted by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra’s previous chief conductor, now Conductor Laureate, Alan Gilbert (who is also the newly appointed chief conductor of the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg). If you would like to hear him play the viola, you are welcome to Konserthuset on 19 January to hear the Philharmonic Up-Close concert subscription performance.