MUSIC

Bruckner: Symphony No. 8

SUNDAY, MARCH 5, 2023
2:00 PM

Christian Thielemann/Vienna Philharmonic
Carnegie Hall
881 Seventh Avenue, Midtown, Manhattan

$omethting-$280
TICKETS + INFORMATION

It might seem strange that the devout, conservative Bruckner is the only High Romantic whose music resonates with The Way We Listen Now. But Bruckner was also devoutly odd. And his music gave up the things we no longer really care about: development, forward motion. I was not even a little surprised to learn that Philip Glass belonged to a “vanguard” circle of Bruckner listeners in college in the ‘50s. But the true (if unintentional, as far as I know) heirs of Bruckner are the Feldman brigade: the kind of music that got many of us through The Lockdown. This is music that stands outside of time, that makes duration an incident. And the Eighth Symphony is Bruckner’s greatest, most sublime utterance. Christian Thielemann is criticized as a Bruckner conductor for missing the structure and getting caught up in incident. But that’s the way I for one hear Bruckner: the incidents are the structure (nothing-nothing-nothing-horn fanfare-nothing). So Thielemann’s Bruckner is A-OK with me. Vienna is, of course, the echt-Bruckner orchestra.

MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Burger Joint.