The Heaven of Bruckner – Trans-cendence VII

The first grand symphonic concert of the summer with the Gstaad Festival Orchestra, conducted by Jaap van Zweden, is on the horizon. Bruckner’s most impassioned, luminous, and almost joyously exuberant Symphony No. 7 takes the spotlight, often dubbed the “Symphony of Tremolos”. The inaugural movement kicks off in a mysterious “primordial mist”, with violins crafting a long, softly played tremolo. The Adagio is especially notable, serving as a tribute to Richard Wagner. Bruckner had just started working on his Symphony No. 7 when his “blessed, dearly beloved, immortal master”, as Bruckner affectionately referred to Wagner, passed away in Venice in February 1883. In the Adagio, Bruckner introduces the Wagner tuba for the first time in one of his compositions, paired with a quote from Wagner’s Te Deum (“… non confundar in aeternum”: “In eternity, I shall not be confounded.”). Until then, the sombre tones of the Wagner tuba had not ventured beyond Wagner’s orchestra pit. Opening the evening is one of the most remarkable violinists of our era, Janine Jansen, Professor at the Haute école de musique Vaud Valais Fribourg (HEMU) in Sion and the newly appointed Artistic Co-Director of the Sion Festival. The Gstaad Festival Orchestra accompanies her in Mendelssohn’s famous E Minor Concerto.