Harononcourt's B9/IV lecture/demonstation disc

[barry guerrero]

Harnoncourt calls it a "workshop"; and what a workshop it is, given that he has the conviction of the Vienna Phil. behind him (sorry Amphissa, I know how you and others feel about the VPO). But re-listening to it, I'm left as baffled as ever - I simply have no idea what to make of the pages that exist. To me, it seems to have very little bearing to the previous three movements of B9. According to Harnoncourt, Bruckner had said that he wanted the coda of the finale to bring back and conclude, the main themes from his 5th, 7th, and 8th symphonies. He also makes the startling claim that the entire finale had been written out, at least in sketch form. Apparently, friends and acquaintances simply took pages as memento pieces. But to me, what does exist, sounds as though Bruckner were writing a self contained, one movement symphony - one that doesn't have a whole lot to do with B9. Weird.

[BorisG]

Harnoncourt calls it a "workshop"; and what a workshop it is, given that he has the conviction of the Vienna Phil. behind him (sorry Amphissa, I know how you and others feel about the VPO). But re-listening to it, I'm left as baffled as ever - I simply have no idea what to make of the pages that exist. To me, it seems to have very little bearing to the previous three movements of B9. According to Harnoncourt, Bruckner had said that he wanted the coda of the finale to bring back and conclude, the main themes from his 5th, 7th, and 8th symphonies. He also makes the startling claim that the entire finale had been written out, at least in sketch form. Apparently, friends and acquaintances simply took pages as memento pieces. But to me, what does exist, sounds as though Bruckner were writing a self contained, one movement symphony - one that doesn't have a whole lot to do with B9. Weird.

Known as the Experimenter, H is best bought out of the used bin. Not a write-off, but running about 20% with me. Four out of five get thrown back.

[Leo K]

Harnoncourt calls it a "workshop"; and what a workshop it is, given that he has the conviction of the Vienna Phil. behind him (sorry Amphissa, I know how you and others feel about the VPO). But re-listening to it, I'm left as baffled as ever - I simply have no idea what to make of the pages that exist. To me, it seems to have very little bearing to the previous three movements of B9. According to Harnoncourt, Bruckner had said that he wanted the coda of the finale to bring back and conclude, the main themes from his 5th, 7th, and 8th symphonies. He also makes the startling claim that the entire finale had been written out, at least in sketch form. Apparently, friends and acquaintances simply took pages as memento pieces. But to me, what does exist, sounds as though Bruckner were writing a self contained, one movement symphony - one that doesn't have a whole lot to do with B9. Weird.

Thanks for the heads up on this...this disk is on my "to get soon" Bruckner list.  The 9th is still very new to me...the only one I've heard is the Furtwangler recording.

[barry guerrero]

Leo,

In spite of Boris' skepticism, it's actually a very good Bruckner 9th.

Barry