Program: Bruckner No. 8

CONDUCTOR’S NOTE

JOHANNES FRITZSCH

A recurring question from journalists, interviewers and friends is, “Who is your favourite composer?” or “What is your favourite piece of music?”. I haven’t met a musician who would answer those questions right away and without hesitation. Often we like the piece best we are working on at the moment. But, taking a step back and thinking a bit deeper about the piece for the lonely island, only a few names spring to mind: Bach, Mozart, Schubert and Bruckner. Why is the music of those composers so special to me?

We are used to linking a particular piece —let it be a symphony or an opera, a string quartet or an oratorio— to the composer’s life. In most of the cases we will find close connections between what happened at a specific time in the composer’s life and their composition, but there are exceptions. It seems more difficult to find these links when we look at the works by the composers mentioned above—most of all Bruckner. Reading about his life and his struggles from his early years as a substitute school teacher to his later years in Vienna and looking at the list of his works, especially the symphonies, feels as if looking at two completely different worlds.

To me it is still is a mystery how that man, Anton Bruckner, muddled up in his day to day quarrels, was able to write the most divine music. Take just the opening of the symphony we are performing tonight: it begins with the single note f, played by horns and violins. It feels quite random at first but soon we understand that this is the centre from which Bruckner builds the symphony. Here the journey begins that takes us through all the highs and lows of our existence— happiness and tragedy, tenderness and grandeur, and beautiful details and climaxes like climbing mountains or building huge gothic cathedrals. No words can describe the world Bruckner creates with his music. Let’s stop talking then and listen.

And yes, I would take Bruckner to the lonely island.

ANTON BRUCKNER Symphony No. 8 in C minor

PROGRAM

Two complete versions of Bruckner’s eighth symphony exist: the first, completed in 1887, is strikingly different in some places. Notably, the earlier version uses only double woodwinds for the first three movements, and lacks some of the expressive tonal ambiguities present in the opening movement. The reason for these changes is partly due to Bruckner’s consultations with conductor Hermann Levi, who lead the seventh symphony in “the greatest triumph Bruckner had yet experienced”. Levi’s advice included the humbling news that the original version of the symphony was “impossible to perform [...] in its current form” and he considered “the orchestration quite impossible”. With some encouragement, Bruckner took the advice on board. Upon completion, the funds for publication were secured from an appeal to Emperor Franz Josef I, to whom Bruckner dedicated the work.

Despite Bruckner’s revisions, the difficulty of the symphony twice caused delay in the premiere. After two attempts to perform—each ending in an abrupt withdrawal and substitution with another work—it became clear that the piece was too difficult for the rehearsal time allotted. More problems plagued Bruckner, with another performance cancelled in Munich due to a feared cholera outbreak. After these tribulations, Hans Richter agreed to lead a performance with the Vienna Philharmonic, which proceeded on 18 December 1892.

Bruckner’s notes suggest that the trumpet and horn passage in the first movement is based on the Todesverkündigung, or annunciation of death. The theme in the scherzo is a portrait of deutscher Michel, the archetype of the Germanic person often depicted with a nightgown and cap, accompanied in his travels and in his dreams. The exquisite third movement opens with a gently shifting landscape of strings, drawing the listener into warm and sensuous melodies. In the final movement, the opening represents a meeting of the Majesties (Emperor Franz Josef I and the Czars at Olmütz) through use of strings (as Cossacks), and brass (as military music). The enormity of this movement (and indeed, the whole symphony) lends credence to Bruckner’s statement “The Finale is the most significant movement of my life”. It was his last complete symphony—the composer would die before his Ninth was finished.

ARTISTS

JOHANNES FRITZSCH Conductor

Johannes Fritzsch was appointed Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra in 2021. Previously he was honoured with the position of Conductor Laureate of the QSO, after his seven-year tenure as their Chief Conductor (2008–2014). From 2006 to 2013 he was Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Oper Graz, Grazer Philharmonisches Orchester (Austria). Prior to his appointment in Graz, Johannes held the position of Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Staatsoper Nürnberg. From 1993 to 1999, he was Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Städtische Bühnen and the Philharmonic Orchestra in Freiburg, enjoying widespread acclaim. Johannes was born in 1960 in Meissen, near Dresden, Germany, where he completed his musical education. He has conducted many great orchestras, both within Germany and internationally.

He has worked with most of the orchestras in Australia and New Zealand and Opera Australia, Opera Queensland, West Australian Opera and State Opera South Australia. In June 2019, Johannes joined the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University as Professor of Opera and Orchestral Studies. Over the past fifteen years Johannes has given many masterclasses for the German conductor training and development organisation, Dirigentenforum des Deutschen Musikrates. Similarly, he has been active in his involvement in Australia’s Symphony International Conductor Development Program. In 2018 the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra invited him to design and lead the newly founded Australian Conducting Academy. Since 2018 Johannes has held the position of Principal Guest Conductor of the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra.

Photo

Peter

SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

The Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra consists of approximately 90 of the most talented young instrumentalists in Queensland. From its home at the Griffith University’s South Bank campus, the orchestra performs an annual series of orchestral concerts, large choral works, and operatic and musical theatre productions, in addition to a wide variety of creative collaborations both onsite and in the wider community.

Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University (QCGU) supports an annual commissioning project, encouraging the creation and performance of new works. The orchestra also collaborates regularly with other departments within QCGU and across the University.

Students in QCGU’s orchestral program have the unique opportunity to perform under the baton of a variety of conductors, instilling a flexibility required in the profession. Resident conductors Johannes Fritzsch, Peter Luff and Peter Morris are joined each year by distinguished guest conductors from around the world, providing students with the rich variety of experience they will find when entering the profession. Notable guest conductors have included Sir Neville Marriner, Peter Sculthorpe, Jessica Cottis, Nicholas Braithwaite, Natalia Raspopova, Larry Rachleff and Elim Chan, to name a few.

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