The Manchester Guardian Nr. 19579 bringt auf S. 8 einen Bericht, signiert "A. K.", über das Konzert vom 8.5.1909 mit der 2. Symphonie:

"             MUSIC IN LONDON.

                             LONDON, SATURDAY.

     One often notices strange cases of composers with a great reputation in one country who are quite unknown in another, but no case is more striking than that of Bruckner, who is hardly more than a name to most English people, in spite of the attempts of Dr. Richter, who was one of his warmest personal friends, to popularise his music. It has an army of enthusiastic admirers in Germany, and still more in Vienna. There are certain elements of greatness in it, but its peculiar vein of Schwärmerei and austerity and its characteristic manifestation of thoroughness make it more suitable to German than to British soil. Bruckner was an unpractcal dreamer in private life. As the saying went, he wrote a seventh symphony, and was surprised to wake up one day and find himself famous. He is in a class by himself; he was touched to a certain extent by all the prevailing influences of the day, but was not a follower of any school; and such a composer has, after all, unless he has the energy and the strongly marked characteristics which enable him to found a school of his own, the smallest chance of popularity. To-day Herr Nikisch conducted the London Symphony Orchestra at the Queen's Hall, and included in his programme the Symphony in C minor of Bruckner, which dates from 1873. It was played magnificently, but the public, with its characteristic distrust of the unfamiliar, received it but lukewarmly. It is a work of considerable beauty and power, and shows a great command of the most important forms of composition. The most interesting and original movement are the slow movement and the scherzo. The former, with its lofty vein of thought and abstraction from the workaday world, strikes a deep note of feeling, not like that of anyone else, though, curiously enough, it somehow suggested a mood not unrelated to that of the slow movement of     Elgar's Symphony. The scherzo is partly Beethovenish, in a curiously unexpected way, and the trio is delightfully and naively Viennese. Herr Nikisch also conducted a splendidly picturesque and dramatic performance of Tschaïkovski's "Romeo and Julie."

                                                        A. K." (*).

 

Dieses Konzert wird auch von The Times Nr. 38955 (London) auf S. 12 besprochen:

"                          MUSIC.

     The concert of Saturday last was a good deal less interesting than usual, for an undue proprtion of the time was occupied with Bruckner's second symphony, in C minor. On two former occasions symphonies by this composer have been played, both times under Dr. Richter; but neither the third (played 1891) nor the seventh (played in 1887) has succeeded in making a very permanent impression, excepting on account of the great length at which the composer was fond of expanding his ideas, a characteristic which the second symphony shares with these.

     Considering the time the movements occupy, it might be thought that the ideas, such as they are, were worth developing at corresponding length; but the odd part of the symphony is that most rarely is there any attempt to develop the subjects, so that very little interest attaches to them after they are once delivered. Some recur oftener, some less often, than could be desired; but none are subjected to the kind of treatment for the sake of which the symphonic form has been valued ever since the time of Haydn and Mozart. The result is, of course, that while there is a plethora of musical ideas, there is little logical sequence in their appearance; and though the mere bones of the form remain, the spirit that should vitalize them is absent, and the whole symphony is rightly pronounced exceedingly dull, even by those who give it their undivided attention at first. The best portions are a slow movement of rather Weberish character and a vigorous scherzo with a singularly undistinguished trio. The first movement is unusually full of wagnerian reminiscences.

     Herr Nikisch conducted it with great care and skill, and kept its rhythmic movement going so that its good points appeared in the best light. In the "Egmont" overture, which began the concert, [...]. The violoncello concerto of Raff is not an inspired composition, but, as excellently played by Mr. B. Patterson Parker, it was heard to the best advantage after the tiresome symphony, [... Tschaikowsky, Liszt ...]." (**).