Born in Ansfelden in 1824, Anton Bruckner played next to no part in the musical life of his time. His music was simply too far removed from the contemporary musical tastes of players and audience. The composer was actually fully conscious of what he wanted and what he didn’t. He composed this eighth symphony, his third in the key of C Minor, between 1884 and 1885, completing a first revision of the work by 1887. But Hermann Levi, to whom he sent the score, did not accept this version for performance. Depressed at first, but then more and more inspired by the task before him, Bruckner composed a new version over the next three years – one far more complex, and richer in structure and instrumentation. Anton Bruckner’s eighth symphony is the last with a complete final movement, and at the same time the supreme achievement of his creative oeuvre. On this DVD Zubin Mehta conducts the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.