Applause like this was new for the notoriously unsuccessful Anton Bruckner: After the premiere of his Seventh Symphony, he was “applauded for a quarter of an hour at the end” – and the work’s appeal endures to this day. Herbert Blomstedt suspects that the popularity of the Seventh lies in the fact that its themes are simple and have a “Wagnerian breadth”.

Blomstedt himself is an authority on Bruckner, as his concerts with the Berliner Philharmoniker have repeatedly demonstrated. His performances are acclaimed for their fine sensitivity for the emotional depth and the dramatic tension of this music.