Bruckner is really getting to me...

[stillivor]

Bruckner's my composer no.3, after The Dude and Ludwig-baby.

I started with 2 and 3, because that's what the local record library (in Hendon,N.W.London) had in the early 60s. And 2 has remained a firm fave. And that old ('44) performance of Eugen's brother Georg Ludwig Jochum has stayed special despite the poor recording (but then i have a yen for poor recordings). It's all warm and gorgeous.

No out-and-out faves among the works. the big flaws, like the premature 'ending' early in 4;IV, are part of what Bruckner's about. Perfection is not of this world.

I like bruckner's strength, grandeur, power, orgasm-quotient, melody, seriousness, bounce, piling-up, crescendi and cymbal-clash.

Surely the minimalism is about his tendency to repeat (where Mahler is constant [the only constant] in shifting and developing. And his four-aquareness, which gives me a kind of comfort amidst a lot of changeability and restlessness in the world. Well, my world.

His mine is narrower than Gus's, but he found an awful lot of gold.

Comparing by number an amusingly-silly game, B only wins at 8, and it's,for me, a draw at 3 and maybe 9. And I don't think B. produced a dud - I like 0 and 00 quita a lot.


   Ivor

[Frankler]

I been listening to Classical for about 7 years before I discovered Bruckner, simply because the Musical Encyclopedia I was using wrote negative things about his music. The first thing I heard by him was his 5th conducted by Christian Thelemann. As is usually the case, the scherzo first got my attention, but later I completely fell in love with the finally as well. My favorite recording of the work is by Wand NDR SO 1989, The bass is unbelievably robust.

[Leo K]

I've been listening to Bruckner's 9th the last few weekends.  This symphony is still rather new, and part of the fun is learning the deep structure...the work is the gift that keeps on giving.

The Colin Davis/LSO/LSO Live B9 is becoming a fast favorite (sounds vulnerable, but raw with power)...also like the Guilini/VPO/DG and the Furtwangler.  Today I'm going to play the Baronboim/BPO/Teltec.


--Todd

[Frankler]

I've heard mixed about the Barenboim Bruckner cycle, mostly complaints that the 7th is live unlike the other recordings. I heard a rumor that the late Wand Berliner is actually a complete cycle but that RCA didn't release it all like the Cologne Radio Preformances.

[stillivor]

Todd, I'd have hoped you got another packet of tapes, 'coded' for your innocent ear.

  Ivor

[Leo K]

Todd, I'd have hoped you got another packet of tapes, 'coded' for your innocent ear.

  Ivor

I sure did man...many thanks!!!!

--Todd

[Leo K]

I continue my journey with Bruckner...some recordings are so amazing I have to mention some of the stand outs:

B7 Barenboim/CSO and Tintner/RSNO...man, I think the 7th is becoming my favorite Bruckner...what a sound world, and these recordings really uplift...fine brass.

B8 Wand/BPO/RCA...perhaps my fav Bruckner recording at this time.  Also am impressed with Guilini/VPO/DG, a totally different account and wonderful contrast with the Wand.

B6 Barenboim/CSO...wow!  What an Adagio!!!!

B2 and B5 Tintner/RSNO...glorious, glorious, glorious and etc.

B4 Barenboim/CSO...my heavens, another knockout listen...I think this cycle is the best I've heard out of the CSO.

B9 Guilini/VPO/DG and Davis/LSO/LSO Live...inredible experiences both...stunning.


My next stop is the Jochum cycle, which I just found on LP the other day...excited to get into this.


--Todd

[chris]

I found the Celibidache box not too long ago for a great price and fell in love with it....in fact, now whenever I listen to just about any other recording my immediate thought is "why the heck is this being played so fast?"

If you can find any of his later recordings (some broadcasts are on operashare) they're definitely worth a listen - especially the 7th.

[sbugala]

The Celi set is interesting because it usually doesn't feel slow to me. 

Bruckner is one of the most interesting composers because of how tempi can be shaped.  Carl Schuricht (sp?) did a Bruckner 8th with Vienna that I happened to like before I sold it during some lean times, and it only takes something like 72 mins. Celi does another interesting performance that is something like 100 mins. long!  Weird, wild stuff!

[barry guerrero]

I can tolerate Celibidache type tempos in the faster movements. That's because Bruckner has a lot of inner stuff that are like the gears in an analog clock. That alone enables the music to keep itself propelled at slow tempi. But I also think that he absolutely destroys all sense of line or melody in the slow movements. How do the adagio movements benefit by making them into Largos? I don't get it. I prefer Klemperer's way, which is to take faster movements a bit slower than usual, but keep the Adagios up to a more flowing tempo.

Barry

[bluesbreaker]

For now I only heard the Fourth, Eighth, and Ninth.
The B8 and B9 are just simply glorious, but I have a hard time with B4.....the first 2 movements are great no doubt. But the latter 2 movements don't make sense to me.
Am I the only one who feels that way?

[akiralx]

For now I only heard the Fourth, Eighth, and Ninth.
The B8 and B9 are just simply glorious, but I have a hard time with B4.....the first 2 movements are great no doubt. But the latter 2 movements don't make sense to me.
Am I the only one who feels that way?

Well the Fourth is strange as it doesn't have a normal slow movement - but you've obviously got past that!  I think the hunting scherzo is one of his best (inspired by a vision of a medieval castle with knights riding out), and Robert Simpson opined that the finale is just a series of adagio episodes. 

Celibidache's EMI version is perhaps his best recording here.  For a 'normal' version try BPO/Wand or VPO/Boehm, and for a fast one go for Philh. O/Klemperer [sic].  But I have found the Fourth less interesting in recent years, preferring the  2nd, 5th and 6th.

[bluesbreaker]

Well....I just feel that the last 2 movements don't flow well with the first 2, especially with the finale.
I have the old Wand with NWR and the Tennstedt/BPO coupled with B8 with LPO. I have been looking for the Bohm/BPO B4 for ages!

[klingsor]

I love some of Bruckner's symphonies, my first was B9 in the first Karajan recording on DG (analog, now out of print I think). I think B2 is a gem of a symphony that should be better known

As for B8--I FULLY agree with those above who say the finale is WAY too long and drawn out, I have never heard a performance that makes a perfect case for it. And I also agree that the First Movement is the best (although I do like the 'regular' version of it)

A few years ago, I had a reveleation:
The Jesus Lopez-Cobos recording of Bruckner 8 on Telarc---WOW, one of the most cogent presentations of this music I have found. Give it a shot.

[vvrinc]

Hello Bruckner lovers. If any of you who may own the out-of-print Barenboim/Chicago (on DGG) CD set would like to exchange favors please contact me. For Bruckner and Mahler, I believe it could be interesting for some of you.

I own the LPs of the Barenboim and have looked for the CD versions in various places, to no avail.

Thank you for your consideration.