Stuttgarter Nachrichten, Susanne Benda

A lot of C major, a lot of jubilation.

Pablo Heras-Casado does not celebrate a Bruckner of rush and ecstasy on the podium. Rather, without a baton, and thus feeling very close to the sound, he searches for connections between the blocks, for special sound colors amidst the minimalist but never mechanical repetitions. The conductor carefully builds up the climaxes in the first movement, where the brass in particular shines, and in between he repeatedly focuses on individual bars – right up to a passage in the solo trumpet, which almost seems to swing here.