The Philharmonie Festiva is a festival orchestra founded by the conductor Gerd Schaller and became internationally recognized for its Bruckner recordings.
The Philharmonie Festiva is a festival orchestra founded by the conductor Gerd Schaller and became internationally recognized for its Bruckner recordings.
The musicians of the Philharmonie Festiva, which was founded in 2008, come from renowned orchestras in Germany and neighboring countries. According to Gerd Schaller, "the orchestra is not a short-term, active project orchestra, but the intention was to build and develop a top-class orchestra, a festival orchestra, in the long term, to undertake his own ambitious projects at the Ebrach Summer Music Festival; certainly synonymous with something elitist claim." [1] [2]
One focus of the orchestra are the concerts and recordings of Anton Bruckner's symphonies in the BRUCKNER2024 project. In the meantime, 20 CDs with works by Bruckner have already been published, which received international attention. [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
Allain Steffen writes on Pizzicato: "With this recording of the 5th Symphony, Gerd Schaller and the Philharmonie Festiva have finally become the first group of the best Bruckner interpreters of the present. [...] First class is the Philharmonie Festiva, which does not need to shun the comparison with top European orchestras. [...] A recording that without hesitation can be counted among the best of the discography!” [8]
Ralph Moore reviews the recording of the 3rd Symphony in the music magazine MusicWeb International: "I have noted before the excellence of the Philharmonie Festiva, [...] whose golden sonority suffuses the score with nobility. The “Gesangsperiode” passages are delicate and lyrical, and the tutti climaxes weighty, underpinned by glorious brass [...]“ [9]
Also on MusicWeb International stated Brian Reinhard regarding the recording of the 6th Symphony: "I’m not totally sure what the Philharmonie Festiva even is, but they are really excellent, and have a fuller, more richly developed Bruckner sound [...]. They rise to every challenge. [...] Gerd Schaller’s Sixth is outstanding, one of the best recordings of the symphony in years. Not what you expected, is it? Me neither.“ [10]
Regarding the recording of the F minor Mass by Anton Bruckner, Christian Hoskins notes at Gramophone: "[...] The performance by Gerd Schaller is quite exceptional, making a superb pendant to his recently completed cycle of the symphonies [...] The recording is as excellent as the performance." [11]
Bruckner's 9th Symphony was recorded three times by the Philharmonie Festiva under the baton of Gerd Schaller: 2010 with the addition of the final part by William Carragan, [4] 2016 with the completion of Gerd Schaller himself [12] and 2018 in Schaller's revised version. [13] [2] [14] [15]
The CD recordings of the Philharmonie Festiva took place predominantly in the abbey church of the former Cistercian monastery Ebrach and in the Max Littmann hall of the regent building in Bad Kissingen. They are part of the long-term planned Bruckner cycle as part of the Ebracher Summer Music Festival. The CD recordings were supported by a cooperation with the Bavarian Broadcasting Studio Franken and broadcast on BR-Klassik. All recordings have been released by the label Profil Edition Günter Hänssler.
In addition to the standard repertoire with a focus on the works of Bruckner dedicated to the orchestra and rare musical works and rediscoveries (Carl Goldmark: Symphony No. 1) [16] Franz Schubert: unfinished - "completed" in the four-movement version of William Carragan), as well as the Requiems [17] [18] by Franz von Suppé and the Great Mass by Johann Ritter von Herbeck, recorded together with the Philharmonischer Chor München. The American magazine Forbes has named the co-production of the Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation - Studio Franken with the label Edition Günter Hänssler of the Great Mass in E Minor by Johann Ritter von Herbeck to one of the ten best CD new releases of the year 2015. [19] [20]
Already with his first project, the world premiere recording of the opera Merlin by Carl Goldmark, the orchestra attracted attention by being awarded an ECHO Klassik Music Prize in 2010 for the "Opera Recording of the Year (19th century)". [21] [22]
Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major WAB 105, was written in 1875–1876, with minor changes over the next two years. It came at a time of trouble and disillusion for the composer: a lawsuit, from which he was exonerated, and a reduction in salary. Dedicated to Karl von Stremayr, education minister in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the symphony has at times been nicknamed the "Tragic", the "Church of Faith" or the "Pizzicato"; Bruckner himself referred to it as the "Fantastic" without applying this or any other name formally.
Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 8 in C minor, WAB 108, is the last symphony the composer completed. It exists in two major versions of 1887 and 1890. It was premiered under conductor Hans Richter in 1892 at the Musikverein, Vienna. It is dedicated to the Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria.
The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, WAB 109, is the last symphony on which Anton Bruckner worked, leaving the last movement incomplete at the time of his death in 1896; Bruckner dedicated it "to the beloved God". The symphony was premiered under Ferdinand Löwe in Vienna in 1903.
Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 1 in C minor, WAB 101, was the first symphony the composer thought worthy of performing, and bequeathing to the Austrian National Library. Chronologically it comes after the Study Symphony in F minor and before the "nullified" Symphony in D minor. The composer gave it the nickname Das kecke Beserl, and conducted its 1868 premiere. Much later, after Bruckner was granted an honorary University of Vienna doctorate in 1891, he dedicated the 1890 version of the work to that institution.
Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 2 in C minor, sometimes known as the "Symphony of Pauses", was completed in 1872. It was actually the fourth symphony composed by Bruckner, after the Symphony in F minor (1863), the Symphony No. 1 in C minor (1866), and the Symphony in D minor (1869).
Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 3 in D minor, WAB 103, was dedicated to Richard Wagner and is sometimes known as his "Wagner Symphony". It was written in 1873, revised in 1877 and again in 1889.
Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 4 in E-flat major, WAB 104, is one of the composer's most popular works. It was written in 1874 and revised several times through 1888. It was dedicated to Prince Konstantin of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst. It was premiered in 1881 by Hans Richter in Vienna to great acclaim.
Anton Bruckner's Symphony in F minor, WAB 99, was written in 1863, at the end of his study period in form and orchestration by Otto Kitzler.
Johann Ritter von Herbeck was an Austrian conductor and composer, best known for leading the premiere of Franz Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony.
The Mass No. 3 in F minor, WAB 28, is a setting of the mass ordinary for vocal soloists, chorus and orchestra, and organ ad libitum, that Anton Bruckner composed in 1867–1868.
Psalm 146 in A major by Anton Bruckner is a psalm setting for double mixed choir, soloists and orchestra. It is a setting of verses 1 to 11 of a German version of Psalm 147, which is Psalm 146 in the Vulgata.
The Mass No. 1 in D minor, WAB 26 by Anton Bruckner, is a setting of the Mass ordinary for soloists, mixed choir and orchestra, and organ.
The Symphony in D minor, WAB 100, was composed by Anton Bruckner in 1869 between Symphony No. 1 (1866) and Symphony No. 2 (1872). In 1895 Bruckner declared that this symphony "gilt nicht" and he did not assign a number to it. The work was published and premiered in 1924.
There have been many different versions and editions of the symphonies of Anton Bruckner.
Otto Kitzler was a German cellist and conductor. He is noted for being the form and orchestration teacher of the Austrian composer Anton Bruckner from 1861 to 1863.
Gerd Schaller is a German conductor, best known for his performing and recording rare works, including the first full recordings of Bruckner's output.
The Summer Music Festival at Ebrach in Franconia) was established in 1990 by Gerd Schaller, who conducts it and is its artistic director.
The Regentenbau is a German concert hall in the town Bad Kissingen in Bavaria.
William Carragan, American musicologist, is particularly known for his research into the music of Anton Bruckner. His primary concerns are analytical aspects of the music, and history of Bruckner performance. He is a contributing editor of the Bruckner Collected Edition in Vienna, sponsored by the International Bruckner Society.
BRUCKNER2024 is a musical project by the conductor Gerd Schaller, the Philharmonie Festiva, the Bayerischer Rundfunk – Studio Franken, the CD label Profil Edition Günter Hänssler and the Ebrach Summer Music Festival with the aim of performing and releasing all versions of the symphonies of Anton Bruckner on CD by the 200th birthday of the composer Anton Bruckner, including the seldom intermediate variants.
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