Description
Bruckner's Seventh Symphony marked several new departures for the composer: not only did it differ from its predecessors in terms of tonal language and formal structure, it was also the first symphony to bring the composer, now 60 years old, the success that had been elusive for so long. After its premiere in Leipzig, subsequent performances took place in other German cities, and then in Amsterdam, Chicago, New York, Berlin, Budapest and London; also in Vienna, which for many years had been very critical of Bruckner's works. Soon after finishing the Seventh Symphony, Bruckner composed the Eighth, his most extensive. However, after being told by his good friend, the conductor Hermann Levi, that he couldn't quite make sense of it, Bruckner - again plagued by self-doubt - immediately started to revise the score, a process that took him a number of years. The Eighth Symphony therefore has two versions: the original one from 1887 (heard on this recording directed by Eliahu Inbal, one of the first conductors to re-introduce it into concert halls) and the revised version from 1890.
