Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra Performs Bruckner Symphony No. 7 for His 200th Birth Anniversary

Lotte Concert Hall on 12-13th
Mozart Piano Concerto No. 23
Beethoven and Smetana Chamber Music on 15th

The Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra (Seoul Philharmonic) will perform Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 7 at its regular concerts held at Lotte Concert Hall on the 12th and 13th. This year marks the 200th anniversary of Bruckner's birth.

In this concert conducted by Jaap van Zweden, the first piece performed will be Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23. Composed simultaneously with the opera The Marriage of Figaro, this work reflects the theatricality and vocal characteristics of the opera.

American-born pianist Conrad Tao will collaborate with the Seoul Philharmonic for the first time. Born in 1994, Tao was recognized as a prodigy when he performed Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 12 with the Utah Chamber Music Festival Orchestra at the age of eight.

Music director Jaap van Zweden and Tao have previously collaborated twice with the Dallas Symphony and the New York Philharmonic.

The highlight of the concert, Bruckner's Symphony No. 7, is less complex and clearer compared to his other works, featuring outstanding melodic beauty. Along with Symphony No. 4, it is one of the most recommended pieces for those new to Bruckner's symphonies. Particularly famous is the Adagio second movement, which serves as a tribute to Wagner, whom Bruckner greatly admired. It uses four Wagner tubas, which Wagner employed in his opera The Ring of the Nibelung, to express mourning for Wagner's death with a dark tonal color.

Pianist Conrad Tao [Photo provided by Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, (c) Brantley Gutierrez]

On the 14th, the Seoul Philharmonic will hold its final chamber music regular concert of the year at Sejong Chamber Hall. Beethoven's String Quartet No. 12 and Smetana's String Quartet No. 1 will be performed.

Beethoven composed a total of 16 string quartets. The 12th, composed in his later years after he had completely lost his hearing, deeply reflects his artistic maturity and anguish. Beethoven's distinctive vigorous rhythm, original expression, and soft, lyrical melodies undergo variations that provide profound resonance and lasting impression.

Smetana's String Quartet No. 1 was composed after he lost his hearing and expresses his inner conflicts, pain, despair, and passion through music. This piece carries the subtitle "From My Life." The fast tempo and irregular rhythms represent youthful passion and ideals, the cheerful polka recalls happy and joyful youthful memories, and the slow, solemn melodies express Smetana's loneliness, despair, sorrow, and regret.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.