Wiener Philharmoniker

Concerto No. 3 resembles a series of bright, witty and intense episodes connected by the same taut poetic line. The bow must dodge the many pitfalls, but no one is more fully aware than Pinchas Zukerman of the challenges presented by this uniquely bright piece. In a completely different vein, Bruckner wrote his Symphony No. 9 in the knowledge that it would be his last, and deliberately chose the tone of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in D minor. Between and 1891 and late 1894, he wrote the first three movements, then wrestled with it for two years, but failed to complete it. The musician never heard it performed, but it has always exerted a powerful fascination over generations of conductors. It is undoubtedly the pinnacle of the musician’s achievement. Some fifteen years ago, Zubin Mehta conducted this symphony on one of his visits here with the Vienna Philharmonic in counterpoint with Haydn’s last symphony. This evening he has opted to bring a ray of Mozartian sunshine before the Brucknerian gloom.

Production Théâtre des Champs-Elysées