Conducted by Riccardo Muti, the Wiener Philharmoniker (Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra) performs Franz Schubert’s Symphony No. 8 in B minor, D.759, commonly known as the “Unfinished Symphony”. A 1992 recording of the piece.

The “Unfinished Symphony” was started in the autumn of 1822 but left with only two movements known to be complete, even though Schubert would live for another six years. Hence the name.

It is sometimes renumbered as Symphony No. 7, in accordance with the revised Deutsch catalog and the Neue Schubert-Ausgabe.

The two movements are: Allegro moderato in B minor, and Andante con moto in E major.

While there are many musical reasons for its extraordinary power, there may be some biographical factors, too. Syphilis that would kill him six years later had its first serious effects on Schubert’s health in 1822: there’s a fearlessness and directness about this symphony that may come from Schubert’s experience of a world of darkness and pain he had not previously encountered.

Franz Schubert

Despite dying at only age thirty-one (31 January 1797 – 19 November 1828), Austrian composer Schubert was extremely prolific. His output consists of over six hundred secular vocal works (mainly Lieder), seven complete symphonies, sacred music, operas, incidental music and a large body of chamber and piano music. Appreciation of his music while he was alive was limited to a relatively small circle of admirers in Vienna, but interest in his work increased significantly in the decades following his death. Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms, and other 19th-century composers discovered and championed his works. Today, Schubert is ranked among the greatest composers of the early Romantic era and, as such, is one of the most frequently performed composers of the early nineteenth century.

Riccardo Muti, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI; is an Italian conductor. He was born in 28 July 1941. He holds two music directorships: the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini. Previously he held posts at the Maggio Musicale in Florence, the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Teatro alla Scala in Milan and the Salzburg Whitsun Festival. Muti has been a prolific recording artist and has received dozens of honors, titles, awards, and prizes. He is particularly associated with the music of Giuseppe Verdi.