Christiaan Richter is a hardcore Bruckner enthusiast, particularly fond of his Fifth Symphony. He collapses all four movements of this symphony into a 45-minute super-finale, where the filtered, compressed, and rinsed material is performed by two quintets and a piano. Christiaan Richter promises that this piece will have a disorienting effect on the listeners.

Christiaan Richter on his new composition:
“A few years ago, I made the observation that at the end of the famous final coda of Bruckner’s Fifth, the climax of the entire work, there should be a few more measures inserted to sustain the tension longer. In my view, Bruckner transitions too quickly to the triumphant and safe tonic, whereas in this work, he achieves a mastery and logic in the form that is impeccable, while maintaining his more erratic and distinctly improvisatory aspects, also present in the primal versions of his Third and Fourth Symphonies. Bruckner's Fifth is an imposing structure that challenges not only in craftsmanship but also in persistence and vision. Countless moments trigger compositional possibilities, such as measure 315 of the finale, refined measures that foresee composers like Webern, Xenakis, Feldman, or the sudden and brutal contrasts at the beginning of the work!”

Super Finale
Bruckner sees the first three movements as a preparation for the monumental finale. The second and third movements thematically align but at a completely different tempo, which results in a completely different outcome. The introduction of the first movement is later developed by Bruckner into the grand climax of the finale, where all themes are combined. For my new piece, Bruckner’s Fifth will undergo various processes of rinsing, pressing, and sifting. I want to collapse all the movements into the concept of a ‘super-finale,’ a single continuous work without breaks. This play with repetition, large and small, up and down (inversion), and the use of material at different speeds, will be expanded and taken much further, to labyrinthine proportions. Bruckner’s Fifth is an ideal starting point to further develop my long-standing interest in counterpoint, perhaps more than I’ve ever been able to do before. Contrasts will be exaggerated, to the point where they will have a disorienting effect. The chamber music setting of the new piece will generate a kind of theatricality, with the difficulty of forming a large tutti coming to the forefront. Instrumental virtuosity and sound color will play a more prominent role in the new work than in Bruckner's.”