Symphony No. 5 in B‑Flat Major

Bruckner’s symphonies have been compared to cathedrals in sound. The metaphor isn’t always helpful, but there is something particularly cathedral-like about the Fifth Symphony. Bruckner composed it in 1875-76, during a period of great personal stress, combined with growing disillusionment about his future in Vienna, where there was very little interest in his music. Yet although the music has its darker moods—notably in the wintry opening of the “Adagio” second movement, and still more in its desolate ending—overall the Fifth Symphony has a remarkable confidence. It is one of Bruckner’s most spacious scores, and no work of his makes such telling use of pregnant pauses. The slow, awestruck opening is like walking into a huge church: It takes a while for the eyes to adjust to the light and take in the proportions. Although the pulse quickens at times, it is the sense of background immensity that ultimately prevails. The “Scherzo” third movement is one of Bruckner’s strangest, betraying a mischievous sense of humour. That playfulness continues in the finale, where at first, ghosts of the previous movements are cheekily dismissed by a clarinet. But a grand chorale and an imposing, complex fugue set a new tone, and at the end it is the chorale, symbol of Bruckner’s faith, that is exalted at the height of a mighty crescendo.