Bruckner never finished his Ninth Symphony. At the end of a lifetime’s spiritual striving, he poured both his unquenchable faith and his agonising doubts into one mighty final testament “to my beloved God” – and then fell at the final hurdle. But it doesn’t feel that way, and the music that he did complete is among the most majestic (and moving) experiences in all of Romantic art. Conductor Alpesh Chauhan loves this music profoundly, and he pairs it with equally uninhibited music by two near-contemporaries of Bruckner who wore their hearts (and their knack with a great tune) proudly upon their sleeves, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Giacomo Puccini.
