Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra / Kent Nagano

What a difference location can make! Anton Bruckner began his career in Linz, and focused his work as a composer in sacred music. Then, in 1868, he moved to Vienna. At the latest in 1870, when the grand Musikverein with its »Golden Hall« was opened, Bruckner grasped what the symphony genre meant, and what role it played in society. Beethoven certainly had an influence here; likewise in all probability what was a new experience for Bruckner: life in a metropolis that was evolving at great speed. The composer responded by integrating the religious components of his thinking into symphonies on an unparalleled monumental scale, as demonstrated this evening in the eighth Philharmonic Concert under the baton of Kent Nagano.