Events

HANSJÖRG ALBRECHT, Conductor

In commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Anton Bruckner and the 100th anniversary of the birth of Milko Kelemen

In collaboration with the Academy of Music, University of Zagreb.

 

Anton Bruckner: Symphony No. 6 in A major, WAB 106

Milko Kelemen: Archetypon II 'Für Anton', for Large Orchestra

  

This concert by the Orchestra of the Academy of Music, University of Zagreb, conducted by the eminent German conductor, organist and harpsichordist Hansjörg Albrecht, marks the fact that the man who would transform European symphonism of the 19th century and pave the way for many other musical phenomena of the 20th and 21st centuries – Anton Bruckner – was born in the village of Ansfelden near Linz two hundred years ago.

Great Croatian composer Milko Kelemen felt the power of his ideas, so he also wrote a piece that explores the influence of Bruckner's musical ideas on the European avant‑garde.  Bruckner's life path was a search for a path to God, however, that path was not just an empty jubilus, but a painful overcoming of doubt and his own human inadequacy. The inner doubt of an individual thus became an artistic asset in the great symphonies given to all of us for insight and personal experience.  In this sense, based on Wagner's achievements in harmony, Bruckner developed a completely unique musical language, which rests on the sharp contrast between diatonicism and dissonant chords. Perhaps the most touching depiction of the struggle with himself is the master's Sixth Symphony, created in the years when, discouraged by failures, he considered the idea of stopping composing.