An amusing Bruckner story

While most of us have no doubts about the quality of Bruckner's music, we do need to appreciate the plight of the poor musicians who have to struggle through his compositions.

With that in mind, I am happy to relay a story recently sent to me by Gerald Stein, the oral historian of the Chicago Symphony.

"Over the years, I've heard a great many stories from CSO orchestral players, some of them pretty funny. As you know, not all of the players are in love with Bruckner's music. With that in mind, the following story:

"It seems that the CSO was on tour in Europe, playing in Austria. A group of the players were performing the Bruckner Quintet. The venue had a large portrait of Bruckner in the lobby. The players in the Quintet were posing for a photo underneath the portrait. Royal Johnson, one of the string players who was not performing (and who apparently was not fond of Bruckner) looked at the portrait and uttered the following word to all who were present: "You know, he doesn't even look sorry."

Gerald Stein's Blog can be found at http://drgeraldstein.wordpress.com/