To play like one of the Berliner Philharmoniker: that is the ideal of scholars in the orchestra’s Academy. This concert’s programme has been coordinated with that of the Philharmonic: the orchestra is performing Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony, so the scholars are playing his String Quintet. With its formal spaciousness, sudden contrasts and powerful build-ups, this seldom performed work – the composer’s only contribution to the chamber repertoire – exhibits all the characteristics of Bruckner’s symphonies while always respecting the limits of the string quintet medium.

The Seventh Symphony in the Philharmoniker’s concert is being coupled with Pierre Boulez’s Notations, and similarly in the Academy’s concert Bruckner’s Quintet is juxtaposed with the French composer’s music. During the span of a few hours, the tonal worlds of large and small forces will be explored by listeners and by the Orchester-Akademie scholars, sharing music stands with the Berliner Philharmoniker in the Philharmonie’s main auditorium and on the platform of the Chamber Music Hall.