ABOUT THE PROGRAM
Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony is among Mr. Zander’s very favorite works. No one knows why Schubert failed to finish this symphonic torso of almost heavenly beauty (he lived for six more years after writing it), although speculation has been as endless as it is fruitless. Whatever the reason, there is no doubt that it has deservedly become one of the most beloved works in the classical canon, and, after the Beethoven Fifth, the one that everybody recognizes.
Bruckner’s Symphony No. 5 has only been performed once in the Philharmonic’s nearly half century. It is a “magnificent, heaven-storming” symphony, of overwhelming grandeur.
