Premiering in 1892 as the composer’s last completed symphony, Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 8 in C minor, WAB 108 is a grandly spiritual work. “Bruckner’s theme is the composer’s awe and trepidation towards fate,” LÜ Jia, conductor of the China National Centre for the Performing Arts Orchestra tells Apple Music. Following recordings of the Third, Seventh and Ninth Symphonies, LÜ and the NCPA Orchestra continue their celebration of the composer’s bicentennial with this rendition of Leopold Nowak’s recension of the 1890 score. Foremost in LÜ’s mind during recording was how to communicate the emotional power of the symphony to the audience. “Our discussion focused on specific methods we could use to embody the music’s emotions—for instance, adjusting the timbre to accurately capture its melancholic mood,” he says. “Bruckner’s use of a harp in the Adagio expresses melancholy and confusion in the face of a changing world. And the dialogue between horns and strings that concludes the movement explores the most profound questions of art and human nature in music that sounds exceedingly simple.” Those horns are particularly resonant here due to doubling on many parts that expands the already prodigious brass section to 21 musicians. Bruckner is one of the conductor’s personal favourites. “His music embodies humanity’s insignificance in the world and a great awe for nature,” LÜ says. “Similar to but distinct from Mahler, more than just achieving individual emotional catharsis, Bruckner’s work integrates emotions into philosophical realisations, enabling the listener to come away enlightened.” Despite having tackled all of Bruckner’s symphonies on three previous occasions, LÜ remains passionate about this re-engagement, which is part of a project to record a complete cycle of Bruckner symphonies by a Chinese ensemble under the baton of a single Chinese conductor. “Age, environmental changes and different orchestras generate new and unique experiences every time,” he says. “Art is not a story in and of itself, but is the gradual accumulation of our experiences, which ultimately takes shape as the work.”