Sir Simon Rattle rounds off LSO’s Sydney season with some perfectly restored Bruckner

My first encounter with Anton Bruckner’s symphonies was a BBC radio broadcast of the Romantic Fourth – the tender magic of the horn solo in its opening moments instantly hooked me. But I became a true addict when I heard the Seventh Symphony, more specifically Bruno Walter’s 1961 recording of it with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra.

I have heard several other recordings and live performances since then, but none of them quite measured up to its melodic artistry and the distilled wisdom of the 85-year-old conductor who had worked with Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss as a young man. Until, that is, Sir Simon Rattle stepped up to the podium for the last of three concerts at Sydney Opera House in his farewell year as Chief Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra.

Sir Simon Rattle conducts the LSO’s Bruckner 7. Photo © Jay Patel

If the first two concerts – one of music by John Adams paired with Debussy and Ravel, the other an unforgettable performance of Mahler’s Seventh – had exceeded even the highest expectations, Rattle’s...