OT: #bruckner2024: a Bruckner cycle to watch

[erikwilson7]

The small Capriccio label will be releasing all 19 versions of the 11 Bruckner symphonies by the end of 2024 (Bruckner's bicentennial), and they are calling the project "#bruckner2024." Markus Poschner will conduct all 19 recordings with either the Bruckner Orchester Linz or the Austrian Radio Symphony Orchestra. The 6th was released in September to very good reviews, including a rave review from Dave Hurwitz (who normally abhors the world of modern Bruckner scholarship). The 8th (1890) was released today, 11/5. "Die Nullte" will be released in January. With 17 more releases to go by the end of 2024, that's an average of a release every two months.

An overview: https://www.abruckner.com/editorsnote/news/a-bruckner-cycle-from-capriccio/

The 8th (1890): https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9255461--bruckner-symphony-no-8#about

The 6th: https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8941188--bruckner-symphony-no-6

Sample the 6th and 8th (1890) on Spotify too.

And as for my opinion, I really like what I'm hearing but I need to listen deeper.

[John Kim]

I listened to Markus Poschne's B6 & 8. My impression overall is that they are straightforward and unaffected readings. I'd stick to Kurt Eichhorn's cycle with the same orchestra.

John

[erikwilson7]

Frankly, I like the straightforward and unaffected approach. It’s a bit refreshing for Bruckner, a composer who is often highly romanticized (and understandably so).

[waderice]

If we are going to have all 19 versions of Bruckner's 11 symphonies recorded by the same conductor, for the long-term sake and musical scholarship purposes of such a unique cycle, I feel that they ought to be as straightforward as possible.  It's quite unlikely that someone else will do this again for a long time.  I just hope that enough copies are produced for all fans of Bruckner to have a copy.

Wade

[erikwilson7]

Excellently said, Wade. It’s like intentionally creating reference editions.

[John Kim]

Of course, BUT I want Bruckner to sound spiritual, sublime, and edgy. A plain and ordinary Bruckner won't do. ;-)

John

[erikwilson7]

No doubt that what you described is generally the norm for Bruckner recordings. Thankfully, we have plenty of that. I could never go without Celibidache or Wand, even if my favorites are Strowaczewski and Simone Young.

Bruckner scholarship is a mess, but I find it easier to find satisfying Bruckner recordings than Mahler ones. It could also be that I’m just less picky about Bruckner.

[barryguerrero]

The more they dredge up alternative versions of various Bruckner symphonies, the more I just want to run away. It's exhausting and pointless. I very much like William Carragan as a person, but he's completely lost me in terms of musical arguments. YUCK! - get me out of here.

I know many disagree with my viewpoint, but I really don't feel the early Bruckner symphonies are worth bothering with until you reach #3. B1 has a nice scherzo.

[erikwilson7]

I’ve always had a hard time getting into B1. I love the finale though. I’ve still not much listened to 0 or “00.”

The 2nd isn’t great, but it’s really grown on me.

But I’ll agree that you don’t get classic great Bruckner until 3 onwards.

[erikwilson7]

The more they dredge up alternative versions of various Bruckner symphonies, the more I just want to run away. It's exhausting and pointless.

Yes. This exactly. I know we go back and forth on Dave Hurwitz here, but in a recent video on Bruckner he again highlighted the various versions and editions problem with Bruckner scholarship today and made a very good point: There's hardly any other composer that we have these problems with (maybe a bit with Mahler). But most composers have revised their works at one time or another, and we don't question it other than performing the latest version. There's clearly ONE Symphony No. 4 that Bruckner intended, and not FOUR Symphony No. 4s that should be treated and performed equally. We should just respect the composer and perform the one version of each symphony that is the most "finalized" form of the work.

As for scholarship, sure... study the versions and editions all you want. But releasing CDs like the recent Jakub Hrusa one with all versions of Symphony No. 4 back-to-back in one commercial release is plain ridiculous and certainly confusing for the average fan of the orchestra or Hrusa who want to just see what Bruckner is all about.

This #bruckner2024 project is clearly intended to be a sort of library collection of Bruckner though. I wouldn't go showing these to someone dipping their toes into the music, but it will be very nice to have all of these versions in one place for research purposes. It certainly has value in those regards.

[barryguerrero]

Yes, I can't argue against your points here. I just think that with Bruckner, it becomes so easy to lose the forest from the trees. That point was brought home to me again, when I was re-listening to some of Gunter Wand's late Berlin Philharmonic Bruckner (which is really good).

[erikwilson7]

That semi-cycle is unbelievably good. I only just wish we had a crash cymbal in the 7th.

[Roland Flessner]

I'm late to the party as I've been keeping a low profile. Kindly allow me to make a few comments:

Like many of us, I am not immune to version fatigue in Bruckner. However, I recently listened to the Vänskä/Minnesota Fourth, which presents the 1888 edition. Based on the "mainstream" 1878/80 version, it includes minor refinements to the first and second movements, while the Scherzo and Finale received more serious changes.

The 1888 edition was long thought to be bowdlerized, but Prof. Benjamin Korvstedt, who prepared it for publication and wrote the liner notes to the Vänskä recording, makes a fascinating case for it. The good professor states that Bruckner worked carefully on this edition and oversaw its performance, and it is the only one he authorized for publication. The changes to the Scherzo were off-putting to me at first, as the higher-pitched horn triplets at the end of the "A" section are eliminated, but on second hearing, I do not find that bothersome, and the refinements in the other movements make the work much more polished and effective.

Quite possibly I will stay with 1878/80 as my preferred version, but I'll also be spinning up both of the others. One could not find a more committed advocate for 1888 than Vänskä, and it helps that both the orchestral execution and recorded sound are top notch. Thus, to my weary fellow Bruckner listeners, I respectfully suggest keeping an open mind for 1888.

A couple other comments about the Fourth: I find it odd that in many recordings, the horns are weak in the 1878/80 ("hunting") Scherzo. The most convincing recordings I've heard are Walter/Columbia (in admittedly dated sound), Böhm/VPO, Blomstedt/SF, and just a tick behind, Herreweghe/Champs-Élysées. If you can live with slightly watery-sounding horns, the Kubelik/BRSO is a terrific performance.

I'm often puzzled by DH's reviews. For B4, he starts by stressing how important, and rare, it is to have good horns in the Scherzo, then proceeds to recommend several recordings where they are barely audible.

I'll also leave a kind word for the first version (1876). While it may never be my favorite, it does have its virtues. While I miss that "hunting" Scherzo, and the original has a start-stop quality that may annoy some listeners, it's a fine movement in its own right, and I think the Finale builds more organically and can make the later versions seem episodic.

Lately I've been listening to the Fifth a lot. It may be Bruckner's most advanced symphony, and in a good performance, the final pages are just overwhelmingly powerful. It does not suffer from version proliferation since we have only the original plus the ridiculous Schalk edition. The latter is worth hearing just to observe what a travesty it is, and Telarc has done us a favor by publishing the Botstein/LPO recording. I have several excellent recordings of B5, and one that impresses particularly is Klemperer/Philharmonia. His set of 4-9 is available as attractively priced FLAC downloads at Presto.

[barryguerrero]

Roland, I agree with you on every point you make. I very much like the 1888 version of B4 - at least how it's presented in the Vanska recording, anyway. It's terrific! I also agree that the original B4 scherzo better matches the rest of the work. That doesn't mean I'd want to hear it more often - just on occasions. Still, I fully understand your point.

My favorite fully completed Bruckner symphony is the 7th, with or without cymbal crash and triangle. I love the 5th, but it is more dependent on having a really good performance. I too like the Klemperer, and very much like Gunter Wand's various versions of B5. I feel that the 6th is absolutely Bruckner's most 'progressive' symphony, but it is slightly let down by its finale.

In contrast to Mahler, Bruckner got off to a slow start, but got better as he went along. It took Mahler a relatively long time to germinate his first symphony, so he was pretty top-notch from the very beginning. That's why I'm here. '

[Roland Flessner]

Good points, Barry!

B4-9, I love them all. As I survey them lately, I'm struck by how unique and original they are, works of stunning genius.

One special pleasure in listening to Klemperer's Fifth is the antiphonally divided violin sections, with low strings on the left. As in Mahler, the separate violin sections often engage in dialogs that make much more sense when they are divided. In general, Klemperer is more concerned with a granitic sonority--wonderful as that is--than with orchestral precision, but B5 is a performance where everything is just first class.

I agree that Mahler found his voice early, and once M1 introduced me to his music, I could always identify the composer of any other piece by him within a few bars. In and of itself, that may not make his music great--we have no shortage of other reasons--but it might explain why some of us have been passionate Mahlerians from an early age. In my case that would be since I was a freshman in high school, which means I've been a Mahler partisan longer than the composer was alive.