This final album of Capriccio’s Bruckner Symphonies in The Complete Versions Edition includes both his very first and final symphonies.

In March 1861, Bruckner completed his counterpoint studies with the renowned teacher Simon Sechter, who had also taught Schubert. His graduation signalled the end of an extended break in his compositional output, when his F minor Symphony was conceived in the classical and early romantic tradition of Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn and Schumann.

Bruckner’s Ninth, considered by some to be his best symphony, is certainly his most daring and, thanks to the missing finale, his most mysterious. It is where Bruckner meets Mahler and, while working on it, when he met his end. He intended to complete the finale, of course, but too much remains missing. What he left us is a heavenly Adagio, which quietly fades away with references in the brass to his two preceding symphonies and ending, but not quite completing, his life’s work.