Bruckner's 8th Symphony

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As most of you probably know, Anton Bruckner is my absolute favorite musician of all time. Although he was Austrian and studied and taught in Vienna, today, he is quite widely known and listened too in Germany as well. When I saw that my program had arranged for us to attend the concert Brucker’s 8th Symphony, I was beside myself with joy!

The concert was at the Philharmonie Concert Hall (although the orchestra was not the Berlin Philharmonik, but instead the German Symphony Orchestra Berlin, which is nevertheless quite good), which is definiteyl one of the more unusual buildings in Berlin. It was built in the 70s and is a very angular, non-symmetric building. In fact, there are no lines of symmetry anywhere in the building. However, the concert hall itself for all of its strange appearance is acoustically perfect. We sat fairly high up and in the back and yet could hear every single sound on the stage perfectly - from the blasting french horns to the tap of the conducters baton on his stand. I should say a little something about the conductor. He is actually a Japanese man named Kent Nagano, who, like so many of us non-Germans, is nevertheless fascinated with Bruckner . He has won a lot of acclaim for his interpretations and we were not let down either.

I wish there was a way that I could explain just how amazing it was to hear Bruckner’s 8th Symphony performed live by one of the best performing ensembles in the world. But there really is no way. Suffice to say, that it probably will remain one of the absolute highlights of my study-abroad experience.

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