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Thread: Bruckner Symphonies

  1. #1
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    Bruckner Symphonies

    I've heard it said that Bruckner wrote 9 different versions of the same symphony. If you count in his 2 study symphonies you'd have to say 11 different versions. Since they have the same pattern and don't differentiate from one in other I guess it's hard to argue with that statement. But, to me I find something unique in his style and in each of them myself. Bruckner was a very spiritual person and it permeates throughout all of them. My favorite is still the 8th with it's sweeping melodies and hauntingly beautiful adagio, 25 minutes of bliss, followed by a powerful finale. One of the best attributes of Bruckner's was his ability to score each piece with such effect with big brass sections and strings and woodwinds that compliment each other like they wrote themselves. Throw in a few harps and it makes for a spiritual experience. It's only fitting that his last symphony, while unfinished also ended with another beautiful adagio. It's the perfect ending.

  2. #2
    Member Wounded Land's Avatar
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    Yep, Bruckner is awesome. I'm not familiar with his 8th but I love the 9th.

  3. #3
    I like the big brass in the 4th symphony. I've listened to nos. 6, 8, and 9, but I don't know them that well.

  4. #4
    Hmm funny that you mention it, I just picked up the 9th the other day. Still a new thing, but it sounded very good on the first two auditions.
    Hired on to work for Mr. Bill Cox, a-fixin' lawn mowers and what-not, since 1964.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Reginod View Post
    Hmm funny that you mention it, I just picked up the 9th the other day. Still a new thing, but it sounded very good on the first two auditions.
    The 9th adagio always paints a picture of the Austrian alps in my mind. Bold and majestic covered in snow. Sitting in an hotel overlooking the mountains drinking wine by a fire with not a care in the world.

  6. #6
    Bruckner's 8th Symphony is one of my absolute favorite symphonic works. Be sure to pick up one of Wilhelm Furtwaengler's recordings to hear it at it's best. His 1944 Vienna recording is amazing, but an obscure '80s Japanese CD pressing is the only release of it that has been at the proper speed. The others are all about a semi-tone too fast. His 1949 Berlin recordings of it (two consecutive nights) are wonderful and highly recommended. Karajan's 1980s recording in Berlin is good but too slow in tempo, as Karajan so often was. Other modern-day recordings are taken at glacial tempos and tend to be ponderous, whereas Furtwaengler really understood Bruckner.

  7. #7
    Member AZProgger's Avatar
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    My faves are 4th and 7th, with 0 being a very strong honorable mention. 0 is quite good considering it was numbered as such because Bruckner didn't like it.

  8. #8
    Jazzbo manqué Mister Triscuits's Avatar
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    The San Francisco Symphony has the 8th programmed next month.

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    Quote Originally Posted by profusion View Post
    Bruckner's 8th Symphony is one of my absolute favorite symphonic works. Be sure to pick up one of Wilhelm Furtwaengler's recordings to hear it at it's best. His 1944 Vienna recording is amazing, but an obscure '80s Japanese CD pressing is the only release of it that has been at the proper speed. The others are all about a semi-tone too fast. His 1949 Berlin recordings of it (two consecutive nights) are wonderful and highly recommended. Karajan's 1980s recording in Berlin is good but too slow in tempo, as Karajan so often was. Other modern-day recordings are taken at glacial tempos and tend to be ponderous, whereas Furtwaengler really understood Bruckner.
    Never heard furtwaengler but sounds like he was close to Boulez in tempo. Boulez 8th is wonderful.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Fracktured View Post
    Never heard furtwaengler but sounds like he was close to Boulez in tempo. Boulez 8th is wonderful.
    I've heard the Boulez version, but I need a little more emotional engagement in Bruckner. Boulez takes a more modernist, detached approach to music generally.

  11. #11
    Member Jack in Wilmington's Avatar
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    I have the 4th and the 9th. The 9th is a Reference Recording and the 4th is recorded live on Red Seal. Sounds like a good choice for after breakfast classical hour tomorrow.

  12. #12
    Just yesterday picked up an old LP of Otto Klemperer and the New Philharmonia doing the 6th. Outstanding.
    Hired on to work for Mr. Bill Cox, a-fixin' lawn mowers and what-not, since 1964.

    "Arguing with an idiot is like playing chess with a pigeon. It'll just knock over all the pieces, shit on the board, and strut about like it's won anyway." Anonymous

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  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Reginod View Post
    Just yesterday picked up an old LP of Otto Klemperer and the New Philharmonia doing the 6th. Outstanding.
    I have that on CD. It's a good one.

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