Anton Bruckner (1824-1896)
Symphonie n° 9 en ré mineur (version de 1894 en 3 mouvements)

Orchestre Symphonique de Berne
Mario Venzago, direction

Venzago’s Ninth Bruckner as Eschatological Music "Here it is not the vanitas mundi that is described but the absentia Dei. And the symphony will very much find its place in the company of its sisters, not as the most brilliant symphony but as that which it is: despondent grappling with the last things, marked by illness and fear of death. The music thus is seamlessly integrated into a long European tradition of eschatological compositions and prepares the terrain for Gustav Mahler, the master of musically thematized departure". It is with these words that Mario Venzago characterizes Anton Bruckner’s ninth symphony and in this way offers an insight into his interpretive cosmos of Bruckner’s complete symphonic oeuvre. Hardly any other complete recording in progress has provoked such a vehement pro and contra as this revolutionary reading by Venzago. Layers are exposed that until now have remained hidden and unheard under the pomp and pseudo-solemn pathos typifying most performances.