From Heavenly Harmony
A Mysterious Sense of Rightness
by Ken Myers
Few composers have prompted as intense and diverse a chorus of responses as Anton Bruckner (1824–1896). His contemporary Johannes Brahms dismissed Bruckner's massive symphonies as "a swindle that will be forgotten in a few years." On the other hand, more than a few years later, Ludwig Wittgenstein would remark: "I don't believe a note of Gustav Mahler. I believe every note of Anton Bruckner." While some listeners are attracted to his music at first hearing—an attraction that deepens with time—others adamantly deny that . . .
