Bruckner / Symphony No 7

In Leipzig, past and present have always gone hand in hand, a successful fusion that will soon be encapsulated in a very special four-week-long music festival. Taking place in the city between 18 February and 24 March 2018, the festival will mark both the 275th anniversary of the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester, and the official inauguration as the 21st Gewandhauskapellmeister of the exceptional Latvian conductor Andris Nelsons, one of the most exciting musicians on the world stage today. Deutsche Grammophon is joining in the celebrations by releasing two new albums that not only showcase Nelsons and his new orchestra, but also continue the long-established links between Leipzig and Bruckner. The second Bruckner/Wagner album will feature the Austrian composer's Seventh Symphony, a work more closely connected with Leipzig and the Gewandhausorchester than virtually any other ever written. Under the baton of the then Gewandhauskapellmeister Arthur Nikisch, the orchestra gave the symphony's world premiere in the city's municipal theatre in 1884, and the Seventh has been performed in Leipzig countless times since. It was therefore an obvious choice to include this legendary work in the orchestra's 275th anniversary gala concert which Andris Nelsons will conduct on 11 March 2018. Captured live, this unique performance will be released 20th of April 2018, in a pairing with Siegfried's Funeral Music from Wagner's Götterdämmerung.