I have the Barenboim Bruckner 7 from Chicago. That was made when DB was a young guest Conductor here. It was still Solti’s Orchestra, and you realize when the brass cuts loose. DB spent most of his tenure here trying to tame them, with intermittent success.
My favorite Bruckner 7 for both performance and sound remains Karajan/Vienna
Phil on DG, one of Von K last recordings. His Berlin Phil recording is my second choice
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Thanks, 2Lefty, I hadn’t gotten around to looking at that thread. The Giulini (note the spelling, we wouldn’t want to mix up the Conductor with hand grenade that is Trump’s Personal Attorney) Eighth and Ninth on DG are stunning, try them as Japanese imports.
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I am not sure that I know the Barenboim Berlin Seventh. Is that with DBs Berlin Orchestra, the Staatkapelle, or with the Berliner Philharmoniker? I have the DB/Staatkapelle Fourth on Blu Ray, impressive though sonically a bit of a let down |
@brownsfan
For many years the Jochum/Dresden set was my only Bruckner. In the seventies when I started collecting it was the only affordable Bruckner. Karajan on DG and Haitink on Phillips would release individual symphonies in huge boxes that each would cost more than the Jochum. I also purchased the set in the early days of CD and still give it the occasional spin. As I began to experience other Bruckner conductors my main complaint with Jochum was excessive rubato. He frequently disrupts the long arching lines with speed -up-slow-downs that give me vertigo. Karajan is the anti Jochum. His phrasing causes those long lines to emerge as if in one breath
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My favorite Furtwangler Bruckner is a VPO Eighth recorded in an empty Hall in 1944. My copy is from a private label created for the fund raising telethons of WFMT in Chicago but it is available on many labels. It was made the day before a concert performance that is also available as a recording, so if interested be aware. Furtwangler usually did his best in front of an audience but my understanding is that this was not a rehearsal but a private performance before a few people as well as an air check for the following. At any rate it’s gripping, with the voice of doom music late in the first movement having an especially powerful kick in the gut.
And yes, it’s nice to hear Furtwangler WWII recordings without listening to Nazis in the audience hacking away. I always get distracted hoping and one of them will die choking on his own secretions.
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The Ninth was my “gateway “ into Bruckner. The first Bruckner I encountered was the Fourth, when I was in College about 4 decades ago. It was entertaining but one can only take so much medieval knights jousting background music. I heard the Seventh in concert and was bored to tears except the Scherzo. Finally I heard a Gunter Wand CD of the Ninth and was blown away. I really hate the completions of the Ninth, not only because I am used to the 3 movement torso, but because anything that winds up coming after those final mystical chords just seems to cheapen the experience.
I don’t listen my to the First two Symphonies, let alone the 0 and 00. Of the Te Deum, my only recording is one that is tacked on to the end of Ninth as a Choral completion. As I mentioned I hated any completion of the Ninth so I haven’t spun that CD for a couple of decades. I did hear the Te Deum recently on the radio (I listen to Radio Venice, and the Bluesound App will identify the composition but not the performers), and liked it quite a bit, so I would also be interested in recommendations there.
Karajan Bruckner is very polarizing. Most critical opinion that I have read is negative, and it was only relatively recently that I began to investigate for myself. I love it. When Von K felt sympathy for a Composer he could do great things, and the playing of the Berlin Phil. Is breathtaking.
I have heard good things elsewhere about Venzago. Time to check Qobuz for his recordings.
I listened to the Jochum/Dresden Sixth a few weeks back. Maybe not as much rubato as I remember, or perhaps he tones it down in that relatively restrained work. I will have to respin that cycle.
Bruckner doesn’t consistently interest me as much as the composer with whom he is frequently compared and contrasted, namely Mahler, but in a few spots he really strikes gold. He also is perhaps the most challenging Composer for an audio system, and therefore a great composer to discuss on Agon.
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I agree that the constant comparisons between Bruckner and Mahler are a disservice to both Composers. I have always thought, however, that these are the two Composers that benefited most from the advent of the long playing (lp) record. I personally heard Mahler/5 and Bruckner/7 both in concert prior to hearing any recorded performance. Both times I reacted negatively; at the time I was still absorbing Mozart, Beethoven, Tchakovsky, Bach, Handel....you know, the certifiable greats. Mahler and Bruckner were just then entering the Canon, but it took the availability of recordings in my case to permeate my prejudices. I could listen to 1 or 2 movements at a time and get accustomed to the style and recognize the landmarks. Then having a toehold of interest, I was more receptive to, and ultimately able to appreciate the beauty. I don’t think that my experience is unique, and I don’t think that improvements In playback technology after WWII are given the credit that it deserves for developing interest in both Composers
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I have the Klemperer set of 4-9 on Warner. Are those the recordings that were on UK Columbia that @edgewear refers to? They are also available on Qobuz. They are pretty impressive sonically and generally respect the architecture. My only complaint is that they never seem to soar. The bar lines are always holding us back. However, I should relisten
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@edgewear
I just streamed the Klemperer 7&8 via Qobuz. They are very good, but I find many of the same issues that bedevil many of Klemperer’s Beethoven and Mozart recordings from the same era have, namely some rhythmic inflexibility
and sort of pulling of punches. For example, try the Doom Music from 8/I.Some how Klemperer just doesn’t quite hit it with the elemental force that Karajan, Giulini, or Wand can summon. He is an old bear, still capable of great things, but not quite what he used to be (it’s a revelation to hear Klemperer recordings from the forties and early fifties and compare them to the familiar stereo work with the Philharmonia).
Before I paint late Klemperer with a broad brush, however, his Brahms cycle with the Philharmonia is superb.
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I know that Klemperer was dismissive of Walter and his emoting (Klemperer is reported to have described his Mahler as “too Jewish”), but when I think of an “objective “ Conductor Pierre Boulez comes to mind. Klemperer seems to have had some interior fence that would prevent him from going full heart on sleeve. I think with Bruckner, however, hitting the big moments for all that they are worth is my prefered approach. AB admired Wagner, who certainly doesn’t encourage restraint. And the long repetitive build ups in Bruckner are for me intended as a prelude to showing us the dizzying heights. |
Lefty
I ordered the Karajan Blu Ray. Best price I had seen and had an Amazon gift card to use up. Thanks for the link.
Camille- the reviews on the VPO haven’t been very favorable. And some of the recordings clearly don’t appeal. Ozawa in the First? Not interested
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Thanks Lefty, I might look for a current issue of TAS in a magazine store and read it. I canceled my TAS subscription in disgust over their shameless shilling for MQA
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Edge
I am not enough of a Wagnerian to have an opinion. I prefer my RW as bleeding chunks. I prefer Solti in The Ring because he keeps me interested |
Lefty
It turns out my digital TAS subscription is still active, because I bought a year in advance, and so I read the favorable review by Ted Libby. That is quite a story he relates, being one of a handful of people available for what may have been HvK last rehearsal. I have the Karajan Blu Ray transfer of the Beethoven Symphonies which was a worthwhile investment |
I think I paid $25 for the Blu Ray of just the Fourth. Yes, I would say that’s a bargain, but to paraphrase Pete Townsend, “not the best I ever had.”
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I’m listening to the Karajan/Berlin Fifth on Blu Ray, and in comparing this to the Redbook Fifth I hate to use the usual audiophile cliche like a veil being lifted, etc...but there it is. Maybe the cliche about everything snapping into focus is more appropriate....there is greater clarity and ambience. Whatever. Great stuff
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