Bruckner's First

Bruckner himself called the First ‘’s kecke Beserl’, or ‘the saucy maid’. Even this early symphony exhibits typically Brucknerian characteristics. In the second movement, for instance, we can clearly hear that Bruckner feels right at home composing Adagios. And in the daring final movement, he lets his imagination run wild. ‘Never again was I so bold and cheeky. I composed like a fool in love,’ Bruckner would later say. Of Bruckner’s numbered symphonies, the First is by far the least performed by the Concertgebouw Orchestra. What better time for the work to be reincorporated into its repertoire? Vladimir Jurowski considers it ‘an amazing artistic achievement to write such a symphony ten years before the composition of Brahms’ First Symphony (…). One can clearly sense the essence of all later symphonies by Bruckner in this one, as if contained in a nutshell.’.

Vladimir Jurowski

Jurowski has been a popular guest conductor with the Concertgebouw Orchestra since 2006, one with a versatile repertoire – indeed, this is the first time he is conducting Bruckner in Amsterdam.