This 2012 Lucerne Festival release captures two monumental works performed at their best. Claudio Abbado, one of the greatest conductors of our time, leads the Lucerne Festival Orchestra through Bruckner's Symphony No. 7 in E Major—a work of spiritual grandeur and symphonic architecture. Pianist Alfred Brendel, a legendary interpreter of Beethoven, takes the helm for Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, a work of dramatic power and virtuosic brilliance. Brendel's approach to Beethoven is always thoughtful and musical rather than flashy, finding the poetry in every note. The contrast between the two works—Bruckner's expansive romanticism and Beethoven's revolutionary energy—makes for compelling listening. Both performances showcase Abbado's characteristically lucid and deeply musical conducting. This is classical music-making at the highest level.