Bruckner's Final Symphony

Did Bruckner sense that his Ninth Symphony would be his final work? After nine years of toil over the score, only three of the four movements were completed upon his death in 1896. A clear nod to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, also his last, Bruckner begins his Ninth Symphony in the same key of D minor. Likewise, the second movement of the Bruckner, like the Beethoven, is a blistering and powerful Scherzo. But instead of a rousing conclusion, Bruckner’s final symphony ends prematurely, and perhaps fittingly, with the third movement—-an introspective and arresting Adagio.

The program opens with likely the most famous adagio ever written, Barber’s gripping Adagio for Strings, heard worldwide upon the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 1, also unheard during the composer’s lifetime, was premiered in 1958, long after his death in 1945. The incomparable Lisa Batiashvili, one of Yannick’s favorite collaborators, brings life to this gritty and forceful piece.