Music Director Fabio Luisi of the Philharmonia Zürich calls Anton Bruckner a “builder with musical means” and compares his monumental eighth symphony with a “huge cathedral”. The finished original version of the symphony in 1887 was not understood in its boldness by Bruckner’s contemporaries, therefore the criticism of his friends determined him to revise the piece. However, Fabio Luisi is persuaded by the perfection of the original version which
he recorded in the studio with the Philharmonia Zürich and thinks that the musical forces of this symphony are especially expressed in this version. In the opera orchestra Philharmonia Zürich, Luisi sees an ideal ensemble for Bruckner’s symphonies: only an opera orchestra has the required sufficient experiences with Richard Wagner’s compositions of which Bruckner’s world of sounds is strongly influenced by.
