Gewandhausorchester / Andris Nelsons BRUCKNER Symphony No. 7

...“Wagner’s music, like Bruckner’s goes way beyond the intellectual,” observes Nelsons. “Both composers use their work to address existential questions and open up new spiritual dimensions.” This is music of concentrated, raw emotion, music that goes straight to the heart, and it is hard to think of any orchestra capable of interpreting it with greater intensity than the Gewandhausorchester. As Nelsons adds, “The orchestra’s incredible variety of sounds is particularly vividly displayed in Bruckner’s compositions. I hope through our recordings to further cultivate and disseminate this immense spectrum of colours and the orchestra’s special authority in the Romantic repertoire.”

Andris Nelsons himself is one of the most dynamic and innovative conductors of our time. As Music Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra he has already broken new musical ground, and his inauguration as Gewandhauskapellmeister represents another major milestone in his career. “It is an extraordinary honour to be part of this tradition,” he says, adding that the orchestra should aim to keep evolving. Their mission together, as he sees it, is to look to the future by commissioning new works as well as respecting the past and keeping the music of the great masters alive.

That aim is reflected in Leipzig’s upcoming four-week festival, whose programmes embrace past and present, with music by composers ranging from Bach to Tchaikovsky, to Jörg Widmann. Shortly after these celebrations, Nelsons will embark on his first European tour with the Gewandhausorchester, performing at such prestigious venues as Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and the Vienna Musikverein.

All in all, it promises to be a rousing start to a new era in Leipzig’s musical history. (Deutsche Grammophon)