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1 CD
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€ 19.95
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| Label Myrios Classics |
UPC 4260183510345 |
Catalogue number MYR 034 |
Release date 05 April 2024 |
Anton Bruckner dedicates his 9th Symphony to "Dear God", knowing full well that his heart disease will kill him.
When he died in October 1896, the news of his death was merely a marginal note in the Viennese newspaper Neue Freie Presse. However, everyone can see from it that his estate contains "sketches for the fourth movement of his ninth symphony", of which only three movements had been completed. The next day, with the room still unsealed, the souvenir hunters arrive. "Authorised and unauthorised persons" descend on the papers "like vultures", according to Bruckner's horrified doctor. Numerous manuscripts are stolen. When the rest is sifted through six days later, there are still 75 score sheets of the Finale of the 9th Symphony – and even these do not remain together.
And so, at the time of Anton Bruckner's death, only three complete movements remained, a triad with an unfathomable perfection inherent in the work. The symphonist Bruckner's "last word" is therefore not an impetuous Allegro, but an Adagio lasting over 20 minutes, unprecedented in its depth and harmony. In it, Anton Bruckner casts a shadow back to Richard Wagner, whom he so admired – and ahead to Arnold Schoenberg. And like Gustav Mahler, who also ended his "Ninth" years later with an overpowering adagio, Anton Bruckner did not live to see the premiere of his last symphony and its aftermath.
To date, countless composers and Bruckner scholars have attempted to undo the body-snatching and reconstruct the manuscripts of the fourth movement into a whole "in the spirit of the composer". François-Xavier Roth and the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne remain true to the original three-movement version in their highly acclaimed Bruckner cycle, and this album marks an important milestone in the work's discography.
„Dem lieben Gott“ widmet Anton Bruckner seine 9. Sinfonie, wohlwissend, dass ihn seine Herzkrankheit umbringen wird.
Als er im Oktober 1896 stirbt, ist die Nachricht von seinem Tod lediglich eine Randnotiz in der Wiener Zeitung Neue Freie Presse. Jeder kann ihr jedoch entnehmen, dass sich im Nachlass „Skizzen zum vierten Satz seiner neunten Symphonie“ befinden, von der nur drei Sätze fertig geworden seien. Tags darauf, das Sterbezimmer ist noch nicht versiegelt, kommen die Andenkenjäger. „Befugte und Unbefugte“ stürzen sich „wie die Geier“, so Bruckners entsetzter Arzt, auf die Papiere. Zahlreiche Manuskripte werden gestohlen. Als sechs Tage später der Rest gesichtet wird, sind vom Finale der 9. Sinfonie noch 75 Partiturbögen vorhanden – und selbst die bleiben nicht beieinander.
Und so bleiben zum Zeitpunkt des Todes Anton Bruckners nur drei vollständig erhaltene Sätze, eine Trias, der eine unergründliche Vollkommenheit als Werk innewohnt. Das „letzte Wort“ des Sinfonikers Bruckner stellt somit ein kein ungestümes Allegro dar, sondern ein Adagio von über 20 Minuten Länge, in seiner Abgründigkeit und Harmonik ist es bisher unerhört. Anton Bruckner wirft darin Schatten zurück auf den von ihm so verehrten Richard Wagner – und voraus auf Arnold Schönberg. Und wie auch Gustav Mahler, der seine „Neunte“ Jahre später ebenfalls mit einem übergewaltigen Adagio enden lässt, erlebt Anton Bruckner die Uraufführung seiner letzten Sinfonie und dessen Nachwirkung nicht mehr mit.
Unzählige Komponisten und Bruckner-Forscher haben sich bis dato daran versucht, das Leichenfleddern ungeschehen zu machen und die Manuskripte des vierten Satzes zu einem Ganzen „im Sinne des Komponisten“ zu rekonstruieren. François-Xavier Roth und das Gürzenich-Orchester Köln bleiben in ihrem vielbeachteten Bruckner-Zyklus der dreisätzigen Originalfassung treu und legen mit diesem Album einen wichtigen Meilenstein in der Diskographie des Werkes hin.
Anton Bruckner dédie sa 9e symphonie au "Bon Dieu", sachant pertinemment que sa maladie cardiaque le tuera.
Lorsqu'il meurt en octobre 1896, la nouvelle de sa mort n'est qu'une note marginale dans le journal viennois Neue Freie Presse. Chacun peut cependant y lire que dans sa succession se trouvent des "esquisses pour le quatrième mouvement de sa neuvième symphonie", dont seuls trois mouvements ont été achevés. Le lendemain, alors que la chambre mortuaire n'est pas encore scellée, les chasseurs de souvenirs arrivent. Des "personnes autorisées et non autorisées" se jettent "comme des vautours", selon le médecin horrifié de Bruckner, sur les papiers. De nombreux manuscrits sont volés. Lorsque le reste est examiné six jours plus tard, il reste encore 75 feuilles de partition du finale de la 9e symphonie - et même celles-ci ne restent pas ensemble.
Et c'est ainsi qu'au moment de la mort d'Anton Bruckner, il ne reste que trois mouvements complets, une triade dont la perfection insondable est inhérente à l'œuvre. Le "dernier mot" du symphoniste Bruckner n'est donc pas un allegro impétueux, mais un adagio de plus de 20 minutes, d'une profondeur et d'une harmonie inédites. Anton Bruckner y fait de l'ombre à Richard Wagner, qu'il vénérait tant, et à Arnold Schönberg. Et tout comme Gustav Mahler, qui terminera également sa "Neuvième" des années plus tard par un adagio surpuissant, Anton Bruckner ne verra pas la création de sa dernière symphonie et ses répercussions.
D'innombrables compositeurs et chercheurs sur Bruckner ont jusqu'à présent tenté de défaire la morgue et de reconstruire les manuscrits du quatrième mouvement en un tout "dans l'esprit du compositeur". François-Xavier Roth et le Gürzenich-Orchester Köln restent fidèles à la version originale en trois mouvements dans leur cycle Bruckner très remarqué et posent avec cet album un jalon important dans la discographie de l'œuvre.
The Gürzenich Orchestra, firmly rooted in Cologne but open to the world, stands for groundbreaking interpretations, innovative programmes and diverse offerings beyond the concert hall. We are one of Germany's leading orchestras in both concert and opera - and have a tradition that has written music history like no other.
The orchestra was founded in 1827 by the Concert-Gesellschaft Köln, but its prehistory can be traced back to the medieval cultivation of music in Cologne. We have been the orchestra of the City of Cologne since 1888 and delight more than 100,000 visitors in about 50 concerts per season in the Cologne Philharmonic Hall. We also perform as the Cologne Opera Orchestra in around 160 performances each season.
Since the 2015/16 season, François-Xavier Roth has served as Gürzenich Kapellmeister and General Music Director of the City of Cologne. Honorary conductors are Günter Wand (1946-1974) and Dmitrij Kitajenko. The designated Gürzenich Kapellmeister and General Music Director of the City of Cologne from 2025/26 is Andrés Orozco-Estrada.
We look back with pride on our great past: outstanding works of the Romantic repertoire by Johannes Brahms, Richard Strauss and Gustav Mahler were premiered with the Gürzenich Orchestra. Today, this heritage is an incentive for us and our conductors to build bridges to the music of the present day: here, too, we can point to an impressive list of important premieres.
Around 150 musicians of the highest international calibre put their heart and soul into making us what we are: an orchestra of the highest calibre and with unlimited expressive possibilities. But we also leave the classical concert hall full of joy and without fear of contact to creatively inspire people in the midst of society. This is also part of our self-image. With performances in senior citizens' homes and kindergartens, workshops, concerts for schoolchildren and offers such as the Family Card, we inspire the most diverse target groups for music. Initiatives such as the Cologne Civic Orchestra and the Cologne Civic Choir invite people to actively participate. Of course, we are also active in the digital space with our GO Plus livestreams as well as podcasts and videos. Multiple award-winning CDs make it possible for the world to experience our uniqueness as cultural ambassadors of the city of Cologne.
François-Xavier Roth is one of today’s most imaginative conductors and programmers, whether in his
roles as General Music Director of the City of Cologne and founder of Les Siècles, or with leading
orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, of which he is Principal Guest Conductor. A born
communicator, he is a charismatic and persuasive advocate for classical music of every description.
In Cologne, where he has directed both the Gürzenich Orchestra and the Opera since 2015, his
programming is notable for its breadth and depth, including new commissions alongside Baroque and
Romantic music. Roth upholds the orchestra’s pioneering heritage, which includes having given the
world premieres of Mahler’s Third and Fifth Symphonies, the Brahms Double Concerto, Strauss’s Don
Quixote and Till Eulenspiegel, and Zimmermann’s Die Soldaten. For Cologne Opera he has led new
productions of Benvenuto Cellini, Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Tannhäuser, Tristan und Isolde, Salome,
Béatrice et Bénédict and The Flying Dutchman.
His sense of musical exploration led him in 2003 to found Les Siècles, which performs contrasting
programmes on modern and period instruments, often within the same concert. Together, they have
toured Europe, China and Japan, appearing at the Berlin Musikfest, BBC Proms, Edinburgh and Enescu
festivals. In 2019, Les Siècles became resident orchestra of Atelier Lyrique de Tourcoing, where Roth is
also Artistic Director, and in 2022 they took up their new residency at Théâtre des Champs-Élysées.
Projects have included recreating the original sound of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, Ravel’s Daphnis et
Chloé and Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande. Currently, Les Siècles are celebrating their 20th anniversary
with a series of European tours.
Roth is a champion of new music and has premiered works by Georg-Friedrich Haas and Hèctor Parra, and collaborated with composers such as Pierre Boulez, Wolfgang Rihm, Jörg Widmann, Helmut Lachenmann and Philippe Manoury. He has a leading role in the LSO’s Panufnik Composers Scheme, mentoring young emerging composers.
Engagement with new audiences is an essential part of Roth’s work, whether speaking from the podium or working with young people and amateurs. With the Festival Berlioz and Les Siècles, he founded the Jeune Orchestre Européen Hector Berlioz, which has its own collection of period instruments and last year performed Les Troyens à Carthage in Berlioz’s birthplace. In Cologne he has initiated a community orchestra and his Ohrenauf! youth programme was recipient of a Junge Ohren Produktion Award. His television series Presto! attracted weekly audiences of over three million in France.
Roth’s prolific award-winning discography includes the complete tone poems of Richard Strauss, Stravinsky ballets, Ravel and Berlioz cycles, Bruckner, Mahler and Schumann symphonies, and albums commemorating Debussy’s centenary. He was awarded the German Record Critics’ Honorary Prize 2020, the youngest conductor ever to receive it. For his achievements as musician, conductor, music director and teacher, François-Xavier Roth was made a Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur.
Anton Bruckner was an Austrian composer known for his symphonies, masses, and motets. The first are considered emblematic of the final stage of Austro-German Romanticism because of their rich harmonic language, strongly polyphonic character, and considerable length. Bruckner's compositions helped to define contemporary musical radicalism, owing to their dissonances, unprepared modulations, and roving harmonies. Bruckner was greatly admired by subsequent composers including his friend Gustav Mahler, who described him as "half simpleton, half God".
Coming from a small farmer's village, Bruckner started his music education early, which he continued for a long time. Due to a mix of insecurity and eagerness to learn, Bruckner rushed from one study into another and he showed himself as a fanatic, but also remarkably talented, student. He started composing at an early age, but he considered everything before his 39th as mere practice. Bruckner never became a stable composer and relied on in short phases of creative energy. After these phases, he would spend ages revising his work. In particular his symphonies received countless revisions and new editions, which was also due to his insecurity, he was quite sensitive to criticism.
The premier of his Third Symphony was a disaster: a large part of the audience left the concert hall and a devastating review appeared afterwards. Luckily, appreciation for his work grew and at the time of his death, even the great Brahms attended his funeral.
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