Anton Bruckner - Symphony No. 3 in D minor, WAB 103 (1877-78)

Anton Bruckner (4 September 1824 – 11 October 1896) was an Austrian composer known for his symphonies, masses, and motets. The first are considered emblematic of the final stage of Austro-German Romanticism because of their rich harmonic language, strongly polyphonic character, and considerable length. Bruckner's compositions helped to define contemporary musical radicalism, owing to their dissonances, unprepared modulations, and roving harmonies.

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Symphony No. 3 in D minor, WAB 103 (1877-78)

2nd version, 1877-1878
I. Gemäßigt, mehr bewegt, misterioso (also Sehr langsam, misterioso) (0:00)
II. Adagio. Bewegt, quasi Andante (E-flat major) (19:32)
III. Scherzo: Ziemlich schnell (also Sehr schnell) (34:23)
IV. Finale: Allegro (also Ziemlich schnell) (41:27)

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Bernard Haitink

Description by Michael Jameson [-]
British musicologist Deryck Cooke described the third as "the least perfect, but not the least magnificent" of Anton Bruckner's nine symphonies. The work has undergone a convoluted evolution however; when Cooke described "its present intolerable state of complexity," just six versions existed, all completed between 1873 and 1889. Recent research has raised that total to nine editions of Bruckner's so-called "Wagner" symphony.

When Bruckner initially submitted the score to Otto Dessoff, the puzzled conductor retorted, "but where is the main tune?" So began the tortuous gestation of the Third Symphony, as Bruckner's well-intentioned students and supporters proposed their own "improvements." Incredibly, the original text of 1873 was finally published only in 1977, some 103 years after its composition. This was the version the composer inscribed to his hero Richard Wagner, with the words "to the unreachable world-famous noble master of poetry and music."

The symphony is sprinkled with suggestions of Wagner's operas, chiefly Die Walküre, Tannhäuser, and Lohengrin. But it adheres to Classical models and as usual for Bruckner is quite distinct from Wagner in its basically abstract, elevated outlook. In every incarnation it comprises four movements, a structure from which Bruckner never deviated.