A few months after Benjamin Korstvedt ’87 graduated from Clark, he bought a handful of 99-cent records. Among them was a recording of Austrian composer Anton Bruckner’s second symphony. Korstvedt was hooked and still is decades later.

Korstvedt, now the George N. and Selma U. Jeppson Professor of Music at Clark, and fellow scholars are celebrating “Bruckner Year,” the 200th anniversary of the composer’s birth, with global festivals, conferences, and performances recognizing the enduring impact of Bruckner’s music.

“His music was most successful during his lifetime with the younger generation. At their finest — and there are some very great moments in these pieces — they achieve what I think is best described as a level of the sublime. The sense of striving for something really profound and something beyond the norm, emotionally and spiritually,” says Korstvedt.

The professor’s forthcoming book, “Bruckner’s Fourth: The Biography of a Symphony,” will be published in October by Oxford University Press.

Challenge. Change. is produced by Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Listen and subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.