Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony

Herbert Blomstedt is Sweden’s most internationally renowned conductor – ever. Among the many orchestras he has worked with are the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, and not least the San Francisco Symphony, where he served as Music Director for ten years. He has also conducted the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra on more than 200 occasions. In connection with his 90th birthday in 2017, Konserthuset Stockholm named its main conductor’s dressing room in his honour.

Now making a much-anticipated return to the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, he brings with him a composer he has devoted his entire life to: Anton Bruckner. “The greatest symphonist since Beethoven,” he said in an interview a few years ago.

Bruckner was also an organist, and his symphonies have often been likened to monumental organ music. He left behind eight completed symphonies but died while working on his Ninth. The symphony thus lacks its intended final movement, yet the three completed movements form a powerful and fully realised whole. Many consider it Bruckner’s greatest masterpiece.