Bruckner’s Third Symphony

Anton Bruckner dedicated his Third Symphony to his idol, Richard Wagner. This symphony is filled with melodic and harmonic inventions, but it left Viennese audiences cold: at the premiere in 1877, listeners stormed out of the concert hall. Only Gustav Mahler remained, along with a handful of young admirers. That was a massive blow to Bruckner’s fragile self-confidence, and he spent many years tinkering on the work. Eventually, the Third began to catch on, even in Amsterdam: in 1892, it became the first Bruckner Symphony the Concertgebouw Orchestra ever played.

In all the years that Iván Fischer has worked with the Concertgebouw Orchestra, he has only conducted Bruckner once, and that was the Symphony in D minor (No. 0 or ‘Die Nulte’) in 2005. So it’s no surprise the orchestra is eagerly anticipating a performance of Bruckner’s Third Symphony under the direction of honorary guest conductor Iván Fischer. 

Iván Fischer will introduce the concert with excerpts played live by the orchestra.