Bruckner, Anton/Schubert, Franz: Wand Sh Fest (Arthaus DVD)

The programme of the concert that Günter Wand (1912-2002) conducted to open the 2001 Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival – the last time he was to do so – was a private profession of his faith in Schubert and Bruckner. Both composers and both works were particularly close to his heart. Neither symphony was finished, yet, for all their stylistic differences, the movements that were completed create the impression of fully rounded works and do so, moreover, in startlingly similar ways. The result is what might be termed two “finished unfinished symphonies”. Time and again towards the end of his life, Günter Wand combined these two works in a single programme, his interpretation of them confirming their affinities in the finest manner imaginable.

The films of his concerts at the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, from 1987 onwards, can truly be regarded as Günter Wand‘s legacy to the NDR Sinfonieorchester, „his“ orchestra for almost 20 years, on which he has left a mark like no other.