Symphony No. 9 in D Minor

Anton Bruckner wrote his last symphony from 1887 to 1896, leaving the last movement incomplete at the time of his death. He dedicated it "to the beloved God" (in German, dem lieben Gott). August Göllerich and Max Auer, in their biography of Bruckner, Ein Lebens- und Schaffensbild, claimed he expressed to his doctor, Richard Heller, this dedication of his work saying, “You see, I have already dedicated two earthly majesty symphonies to poor King Ludwig as the royal patron of the arts. To our illustrious, dear Emperor as the highest earthly majesty, whom I acknowledge. And now I dedicate my last work to the majesty of all the majesties, the beloved God, and hope that he will give me so much time to complete the same.” 
 
Bruckner announced in a letter dated 18 February 1891 to the reviewer Theodor Helm, "Loud secrets today. H. Doctor! 3rd secret. The Ninth Symphony (D minor) has begun," concealing the fact that his first sketches of the Ninth had been written nearly four years earlier. On 23 December 1893, the first movement of the Ninth was completed after six years. The Scherzo (second movement), sketched as early as 1889, was completed on 15 February 1894. Bruckner composed three successive versions of the Trio. The final version (1894), also in F♯ major, is unusually fast in tempo for a trio. The slower mid-part contains, as in the previous version, a reminiscence of the Hallelujah from Händel's Messiah. The Adagio (third movement) was completed on 30 November 1894. With regard to the final movement, the following entry can be found in Bruckner's calendar: "24th May 1895 first new sketch of Finale neue Scitze." Bruckner died during the work on the fourth movement, before completing the symphony.
 
The first three movements of the Ninth were premiered in Vienna, in the Musikvereinssaal on 11 February 1903 by the Vienna Concertvereinsorchester, the precursor of the Vienna Symphony, under the conductor Ferdinand Löwe in his own arrangement. Löwe profoundly changed Bruckner's original score by adapting Bruckner's orchestration in the sense of a rapprochement with Wagner's ideal of sound, and made changes to Bruckner's harmony in certain passages (most notably in the climax of the Adagio). He published his altered version without comment, and this edition was long regarded as Bruckner's original. In 1931, the musicologist Robert Haas pointed out the differences between Löwe's edition and Bruckner's original manuscripts. The following year, conductor Siegmund von Hausegger performed both the Löwe-edited and the original Bruckner score, so that the actual premiere of the first three movements of Bruckner's Ninth Symphony took place on 2 April 1932 in Munich. 
 
According to Ekkehard Kreft, "the phases of improvement in the Ninth Symphony take on a new significance, as they serve to shape the processual character from the starting point of the thematic complex (first theme) to its final destination (main theme)." Both in the first sentence and in the final movement this is expressed in a hitherto unknown dimension. The entry of the main theme is preceded by a harmoniously complicated increase phase. The use of this increasingly complex harmony makes Bruckner the pioneer of later developments. The musicologist Albrecht von Mossow summarizes this with regard to the Ninth as follows: "To the material developments of modernity must be attributed to Bruckner as with other composers of the 19th century, the increasing emancipation of dissonance, the chromatisation of harmony, the weakening of tonality, the touch of the Triadic harmonics through the increased inclusion of four- and five-tone sounds, the formal breaks within his symphonic movements, and the revaluation of timbre to an almost independent parameter." 
 
The symphony has four movements, although the finale is incomplete and fragmentary:

1. Feierlich, misterioso (D minor)
2. Scherzo: Bewegt, lebhaft (D minor); Trio. Schnell (F♯ major)
3. Adagio: Langsam, feierlich (E major)
4. Finale: Misterioso, nicht schnell (D minor, incomplete)

​Much material for the finale in full score may have been lost very soon after the composer's death; some of the lost sections in full score survived only in two-to-four-stave sketch format. The placement of the Scherzo second, and the key, D minor, are only two of the elements this work has in common with Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. The symphony is so often performed without any sort of finale. The score calls for three flutes, three oboes, three clarinets in B♭ and A, three bassoons, three trumpets in F, three trombones, eight horns, (5th to 8th doubling Wagner tubas), one contrabass tuba, timpani and strings.
 
The Orel edition (1934) was the first edition to attempt to reproduce what Bruckner had actually written. It was first performed in 1932 by the Munich Philharmonic conducted by Siegmund von Hausegger, in the same program immediately following a performance of Löwe's edition. The edition was published, possibly with adjustments, two years later (1934) under the auspices of the Gesamtausgabe. The Nowak edition (1951) is a re-edition of the Orel edition of 1934. The Nowak edition is the most commonly performed one today. The Cohrs edition (2000), a new edition of the complete three movements was recorded by Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Simon Rattle and Simone Young. It corrects several printing errors and includes extensive explanation of the editorial problems. The separate Critical Report of Cohrs contains numerous facsimiles from the first three movements. It includes an edition of the two earlier Trios for concert performance.
 
Here are four Albums:
 
Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor. Claudio Abbado and Lucerne Festival Orchestra. Release Date: 7 Jul 2014. Label: Deutsche Grammophon. Catalogue No: 4793441. Hi-Res FLAC (Lossless, 48 kHz, 24 bit). 
Awards:
BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2015, Orchestral Finalist.
BBC Music Madazine Awards, 2015, Orchestral Award Winner.
Gramophone Awards 2015, Winner – Orchestral.
Gramophone Awards 2015, Recording of the Year.
International Classical Music Awards, 2015, Winner – Symphonic Music.
Presto Recording of the Week, 7 July 2014.
 
Bruckner: Symphony No. 9. Manfred Honeck  and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Release Date: 13 Sept 2019. Label: Reference Recordings. Catalogue No: FR-733. Hi-Res FLAC (Lossless, 192 kHz, 24 bit).
Awards:
Grammy Awards, 62nd Awards (2019), Nominee – Best Orchestral Performance.
Grammy Awards, 62nd Awards (2019), Nominee – Best Engineered Album (Classical).
Gramophone Magazine, December 2019, Critics’ Choice.
International Classical Music Awards, 2019, Nominee – Symphonic Music.
The New York Times, Recordings of the Year 2019.
 
Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor. Sir Simon Rattle and Berliner Philharmoniker. Release Date: 21 May 2012. Label: Warner Classics. Catalogue No: 9529692. Hi-Res FLAC (Lossless, 44.1 kHz, 24 bit). 
Awards:
BBC Music Magazine, September 2012, Disc of the Month.
BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2013, Orchestral Award Winner.
Gramophone Awards, 2013, Finalist – Orchestral.
Gramophone Magazine, August 2012, Editor’s Choice.
Presto Recording of the Week, 28 May 2012.
 
Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor. Bernard Haitink and London Symphony Orchestra. Release Date: 10 Feb 2014. Label: LSO Live. Catalogue No: LSO0746. Hi-Res FLAC (Lossless, 96 kHz, 24 bit). 
Awards:
Gramophone Awards, 2014, Shortlisted – Orchestral.
Gramophone Magazine, April 2014, Editor’s Choice.
Presto Recording of the Year, Finalist 2014.
​

​Reference:
Symphony No. 9 (Bruckner). (2024. December 3). In Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._9_(Bruckner)