Herbert Blomstedt on Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony (19 min.)

Herbert Blomstedt, who made his debut with the orchestra in 1976, has performed with the Berliner Philharmoniker almost every season since 2008. When the conductor – after performances of Bruckner’s Third, Sixth and Eighth – performed the Fourth Symphony for the first time with the Philharmoniker in January 2020, he was already 92 years old. The same concert included a performance of Mozart’s 22nd Piano Concerto, which – like Bruckner’s Symphony – is in the key of E Flat Major. In this introduction to both works, Blomstedt talks about the symbolic significance of this key and explains how, for him, Bruckner is one of the few composers who succeeds in the musical representation of “eternity”. He also introduces the central themes of the compositions, and explains their structure.