Blomstedt’s Bruckner 7 in Berlin

Herbert Blomstedt’s recent performance of Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony with the Berliner Philharmoniker provided a masterclass in anti-heroic conducting. Eschewing the heavy-handed rubato (the flexible stretching or hurrying of tempo for expressive effect) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempo_rubato] often used to signal "profundity" in the Late Romantic repertoire, Blomstedt focused on the architectural integrity of the opening E-major theme. The transparency of the wind-playing allowed the [Score on IMSLP to emerge as a study in light and mass rather than a funeral oration. At 98, Blomstedt’s refusal to indulge in sentimentality reaffirms his status as the most diagnostic interpreter of the symphonic form currently on the podium, treating the score as a structural reality rather than an emotional prompt.