43 lines
3.5 KiB
Markdown
43 lines
3.5 KiB
Markdown
---
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layout: post
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title: "Going Big with Bruckner [Bruckner]"
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category: [Classical Ramblings]
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date: 2021-10-07 23:0:00 +0200
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---
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It's always the same.
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A quiet, mysterious opening, slowly picking up intensity and volume.
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Growing louder and louder, increasing in complexity - new sounds slowly file in.
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And somehow, it snuck up on you - you're bathed in symphonic might, overflowing with emotion.
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It's the Bruckner symphony.
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I've come to hear the music of Anton Bruckner when following the path of Mahler, and the two do share many similarities - both hail from the proud German-Austrian traditions of Romantic music, and both brought the symphony to previously unforeseen scale. Their music, however, remains quite different.
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Anton Bruckner's symphonies are massive in scale, sound and length - Bruckner often repeats himself, and the tempo is quite slow. Somewhat unusually, they all share a very similar structure and even orchestration - Bruckner had a style and he stuck to it.
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Earlier in my classical journey, I was drawn to fast, virtuousic music - and so did not dwell long on Bruckner. As I grew into more diverse style, Bruckner crept up on me.
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If you can spare the attention span to listen to him, you will be richly rewarded.
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I've read online somewhere that '*Bruckner is not to be understood - but to be experienced*'.
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His works are extremely rich in texture - the orchestra does not remain idle, and there's always something going on - the whispering of a wind instrument, low hums of strings, ringing brass. There's always an atmosphere to decipher, continuously building up and growing bigger, bolder.
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And when you reach the core of each phrase, you are surrounded with pure, clean emotion.
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And while it may sound all very conservative, Bruckner has some surprisingly modern tricks up his sleeve. He is not afraid to suddenly ditch pleasant tonality, rise suddenly in volume and force, and change the mood at a whim. The third symphony is a good example of this - even relatively early, it sounds very different from a conservative Classical era symphony.
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Bruckner was a devout Catholic and an organist, and even though music historians complain that "Bruckner the man has very little to do with Bruckner the composer", I can hear these influences in his music. There's always a divine aura to the symphonies, and if you close your eyes, at times you can almost imagine sitting afoot a massive organ, awed by its sound. At other times, it sounds like something of a movie soundtrack, whether released today or in the last decade. Finally, if you're not aware, you'll be caught of guard with much more colorful modern maneuvers.
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Anton's music contrasts greatly with many of my favorites - Brahms being particularly different. Where Brahms uses the orchestra in moderation, and constructs powerful and sudden phrases with sudden might - Bruckner builds up the entire orchestra. It also greatly differs from the music of Mahler, who saw Bruckner as a contemporary (and said of him he is a "Half simpleton, half God") - Mahler's vast symphonic scale is fickle and intense, while Bruckner's is restrained and carefully presented. The music of both is amongst the mightiest I've ever heard.
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Nowadays, I really enjoy listening to Bruckner - it's somewhat of a break from the rest of the music into the familiar structure of his symphonies - which never fail to awe me in their unique voice.
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Just listen to the Adagio of the sixth and see if it does not touch something within your soul.
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I heartily recommend giving the 3rd, 4th, 6th, and 7th symphonies an attentive listen.
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