Andris Nelsons and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra continue their award-winning Bruckner cycle with the Symphonies Nos. 2 and 8, coupled with Wagner’s Meistersinger Prelude. About Bruckner’s Second Symphony, Nelsons says, “He has formulated everything very clearly: the wonderful themes are clearly separated from each other by general pauses, and yet the result is a great whole. It is astonishing that this work is so rarely performed.” Bruckner himself called his Eighth a “mystery.” Nelsons has much to gain from this: “Bruckner penetrated here, especially in the slow movement, into regions that were beyond the reach of other composers. The unity of the enormous work is also a miracle.”