Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts Bruckner's Symphony No. 3 and Strauss's Four Last Songs with Angel Blue
Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra
Cast
Program notes
"The wonder of Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s Bruckner," writes Gramophone, "is in its dynamic sweep and attentiveness to detail, its flexibility and appreciation of Bruckner’s harmonic boldness." Yannick, who headed the world-class Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra for ten years and makes the most of every return trip to De Doelen, leads his longtime colleagues in Bruckner's Third Symphony. Met by a chilly reception in its initial 1873 version, the Third was subject to more revisions than any other symphony by the famously perfectionistic composer and, in its most commonly performed form, is often considered to mark the point at which Bruckner reached artistic maturity. Joining Yannick and the RPhO is the extraordinary American soprano Angel Blue, who performs one of the most emotionally potent song cycles ever composed: Strauss's Four Last Songs, the final creations of a composer who knew he had reached the twilight of his life and imbued these songs with all the exquisite, bittersweet pathos of that knowledge.