Semyon Bychkov with Bruckner

Bruckner's Symphony No. 8 is full-length – not just because of its duration of about 80 minutes, but also due to its content. The conductor Semyon Bychkov is convinced that everything in this work revolves around Bruckner's relationship with God, and thus about a 'complex and conflict-ridden matter'. Bruckner himself referred to his last completed Symphony as Mystery, yet explained various passages with quite concrete contents: The Scherzo contains a portrait of his friend Carl Almeroth, the Adagio is about a girl whom he 'deeply gazed into the eyes', and through the Finale haunts the 'German Michel'. For Semyon Bychkov, religious doubt remains at the end: 'No one will ever be able to convince me that doubts do not exist.'