Hartmut Haenchen & Bruckner 9 - Te Deum

In recent years, the renowned German conductor Hartmut Haenchen, who as music director in the 1990s led the Dutch National Opera and the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra to unprecedented feats of brilliance, has conducted a lot of research into Bruckner’s symphonies. One of the fruits of this is the Bruckner Cycle that he started in 2018 in association with the Belgian National Orchestra. After magnificent performances of Symphony No. 4 and Symphony No. 3, this season Hartmut Haenchen will conduct Bruckner’s final symphony – the magnificent No. 9 – in combination with Te Deum, which is possibly even more impressive.

“Cathedrals of sound” is how Bruckner’s symphonies are often described. His last work in this genre, explicitly dedicated “to dear God”, is also a mighty structure whose spires stretch high into the sky. At the same time, Symphony No. 9 builds a bridge between Wagner’s legacy and Schoenberg’s modernism. Dissonance increasingly dissolves tonality, timbres become incredibly important, and in addition to working towards climaxes, deconstruction and decay are afforded a place too. Before his death, Bruckner was able to complete three of the four movements: a profound sonata movement, a haunting scherzo and a searching andante.

When Bruckner realised that he would not be able to finish the finale of his Symphony No. 9 before his death, he came up with the idea of performing Te Deum as the fourth movement, a work he had written fifteen years earlier and of which he was extremely proud. Mahler also enjoyed Te Deum: “for the tongues of angels, God-seekers, tormented hearts and souls purified in the fire” is how he described the composition for large choir, soloists, orchestra and organ.

Hartmut Haenchen, conductor
Sophie Karthäuser, soprano
Theresa Kronthaler, mezzo soprano
Ben Gulley, tenor
Johannes Weisser, bass-baritone
Octopus choir