The festive Final Concert to celebrate the 950th Anniversary of the Monastery of St. Florian
On the 195th anniversary of the death of Anton Bruckner the International Bruckner Festival Linz 2021 comes to an end with the traditional Memorial Concert in the basilica of the monastery of St. Florian, which this year celebrates 950 years since its foundation. For the first time a symphonic work by Bruckner is on the programme: the Symphony No.5 in Bb major, with which its composer demonstrated the will to „extreme cyclical coherence“, and at the same time his phenomenal mastery of compositional technique to create a lasting monument to his craft; he rightly recognized in this huge, sublime work his „contrapuntal masterpiece“. Before this work there is a performance of the Funeral Music in E minor for large orchestra which Otto Kitzler, Bruckner's most important teacher, composed in 1904/05 in memory of his most important pupil. The score of this work was rediscovered a few years ago in Weimar. Its world premiere took place in Brünn (Brno) on 11th November 1905, while the first performance in Linz followed on 21st October 1906 – almost exactly 115 years ago.
The Bruckner Orchestra is directed by Hartmut Haenchen, a notable Bruckner expert and one of the greatest Bruckner conductors of our time, whose single appearance at the Brucknerhaus Linz was almost 46 years ago.
Otto Kitzler (1834–1915)
Trauermusik (Funeral Music in Memory of Bruckner) in E minor for Symphony Orchestra (1904–05)
Anton Bruckner (1824–1896)
Symphony Nr. 5 in Bb major, WAB 105 (1875–76, rev. 1877–78)
Bruckner Orchester Linz
Hartmut Haenchen | Conductor
