February 11 – NDR Kultur broadcasts a recording of Herbert Blomstedt conducting Staatskapelle Dresden in Bruckner’s Fifth Symphony from the Semperoper on January 13, the third of three performances.

Magnificent! Those treading bass notes, the sacred strings, pregnant pauses, and stirring brass proclamations, initiated a performance of seasoned devotion, belonging to a grand tradition, the Semperoper seemingly of cathedral space and resonance, if without obfuscation. Rich-sounding cellos, and pizzicatos generally, carried in the air, luxuriant, although Herbert Blomstedt wasn’t seeking anything superficial, instead penetrating to the music’s core, always symphonic, the first movement majestic. Then a sublime, eloquent-oboe-led, slow movement, requiring a deep breath when anticipating such lofty invention, the music rising to ecstatic heights, solemn, crunching brass chords issuing the sort of dissonance that stirs the soul, followed by a Scherzo moderately paced, yet with purpose, dancing with rhythmic clarity, the Trio quicker and buoyant. The Finale revisits what has gone before, a cheeky clarinet interjecting, perhaps deflecting the high art of the chorale and fugue(s) to come. Although the dynamic range was somewhat restricted on the scheduled broadcast (less so on the link below) a seismic fortissimo did make it through as if royalty had arrived, riposted by serene strings, then the bare bones of a fugue appearing, becoming complex in its multiplicity, yet also light on its toes, individual lines as clear as day. With stealth, Blomstedt clawed the coda from Deep Earth, horns pealing, a unanimous crescendo and emphatic ultimate chord cueing silence then cheering. This was an immersive eighty-minute-plus experience, Blomstedt the master of this Symphony’s shape and size, the members of Staatskapelle Dresden speaking Brucknerian like natives.

Listen here…

https://www.mdr.de/klassik/hoeren-sehen/audio-konzert-blomstedt-semperoper-staatskapelle-100.html

“When Herbert Blomstedt stands on the podium, music becomes a way of life: The 98-year-old honorary conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden embodies humility and clarity in his art in a truly unique way. His interpretations of Bruckner have long been considered the gold standard – free of pathos and imbued with intellectual rigor, sonic transparency, and inner peace. In the Fifth Symphony, composed in 1876 but not premiered until 1894, which Bruckner described as his “most contrapuntally daring symphony” and never heard himself perform, a magnificent fugato rises in the finale as a sonic apotheosis devoid of all vanity.

“The program

Anton Bruckner
Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major
Saxon State Orchestra Dresden
conductor: Herbert Blomstedt
MDR recording from January 13, 2026 at the Semperoper in Dresden“

January 12 – photo – Herbert Blomstedt had just conducted Staatskapelle Dresden in Bruckner’s Fifth Symphony. ***REVIEW ADDED***

Herbert Blomstedt currently with Staatskapelle Dresden for three performances of Bruckner’s Fifth Symphony – tomorrow, Monday & Tuesday. Photos of Blomstedt taken yesterday at rehearsal.