Any piece that you have lots of recordings of but still not completely happy?

[Mirror Image]

Bruckner 6th - even after the blind listening I held, which resulted in me owning over 20 versions of this saucy piece, I'm still truly without one I'd consider essential, or even my favorite. Many recording come close, but have one movement that is out of balance to the other three, or an ending coda that lacks steam, or an inaudible timpani in the opening movement's triumphant mid-climax, or a conductor that's too afraid to add a little interpretation, or a conductor that adds too much interpretation...see, I get picky. With that being said, it's not that I don't love some of the recordings I own (Haitink/Dresden, Blomstedt/Leipzig or SF, Celibidache/Muncih, Norrington/SWR Stuttgart, Nagano/DSOB to name a few) it's that I still haven't found THE ONE. But I do love this music.

Bruckner's 6th is a tricky one to pull off well that's for sure. I still like the Haitink/Dresden performance a lot and I also like HvK/Berliners, which is no surprise here.

[vandermolen]

Vaughan Williams: Symphony 6
Boult's Decca version is the best but it's a 1950s recording and I'd like a modern version which is as good.

[DaveF]

Bruckner 6th

I'm sure Klemperer and the New Philharmonia must have been among your 20, but that's the one for me - plenty of timpani, plenty (but not too much) interpretation, and one of the few performances I've heard to make sense of the 3:2 ratios that are all over the place in the first movement.  And the first half of that movement's coda (the quiet half) is one of the most beautiful things ever recorded.  IMHO.

[vandermolen]

I'm sure Klemperer and the New Philharmonia must have been among your 20, but that's the one for me - plenty of timpani, plenty (but not too much) interpretation, and one of the few performances I've heard to make sense of the 3:2 ratios that are all over the place in the first movement.  And the first half of that movement's coda (the quiet half) is one of the most beautiful things ever recorded.  IMHO.

My favourite too.
My brother told me that he heard the worst ever performance on the radio the other day with Simon Rattle conducting the opening movement at the speed of Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony. 

[Jo498]

I think there is a problem to do with Schubert 9, and it has to do with the similarity at the level of rhythm and tempo from one movement to the next.

The piece is spacious but it cannot be treated like Bruckner because it is far more straightforward (among other things there is almost no polyphony or otherwise "dense writing").
It was probably inspired mostly by Beethoven's 7th and is similarly dominated by rhythm. But while the slow movement and the scherzo are more varied (contain more themes in proportion to their greater length) than Beethoven's the outer movements are "simplified", using very simple rhythmic figures even more obsessively (and in longer movements) than Beethoven. This can lead either to boredom or to the impression of a "stomping brutality" if played in a certain way (fast). I also often don't like the sound in some of the passages where the brass is sticking out in a Bruckner-like fashion. So it is probably mainly that I am not as big a fan of this symphony (except the 2nd movement) as many others are.

I listened to Munch's recording last night and this is pretty good. Quite similar to Szell's as far as I recall, fastish and repeat-free.

[DaveF]

My brother told me that he heard the worst ever performance on the radio the other day with Simon Rattle conducting the opening movement at the speed of Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony. 

It's here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07xhvzd - starting at about 55' with Rattle explaining that the first movement ought to go at the speed of the Italian symphony.  I can't see myself how a Brucknerian Majestoso is the same as a Mendelssohnian Allegro vivace, but perhaps the new edition of which he speaks changes Bruckner's marking.  The Radio 3 introduction also puzzles me - surely it's the 5th whose structure is based on Beethoven 9 (old themes rejected at the start of the finale), not the 6th?

[Parsifal]

I admittedly have never heard the Böhm (there is another one from Dresden, preferred by some) or Krips but partly because I didn't expect "traditional" version to meet my expectations. Besides, I don't really like Böhm in Mozart or Beethoven.

I don't like many of the late Bohm recordings, but this one from the 60's with the BPO seemed just right to me. (It's part of the complete Schubert bargain-priced set).

[Mahlerian]

It's here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07xhvzd - starting at about 55' with Rattle explaining that the first movement ought to go at the speed of the Italian symphony.  I can't see myself how a Brucknerian Majestoso is the same as a Mendelssohnian Allegro vivace, but perhaps the new edition of which he speaks changes Bruckner's marking.  The Radio 3 introduction also puzzles me - surely it's the 5th whose structure is based on Beethoven 9 (old themes rejected at the start of the finale), not the 6th?

In some ways, Bruckner regularly imitated Beethoven's Ninth with every new work.  He also used the technique of presenting the old themes in the finale in the Third (most prominently in its first version).

[Sergeant Rock]

I'm sure Klemperer and the New Philharmonia must have been among your 20, but that's the one for me

Indeed, that is still my favorite Bruckner 6th...and it won the silver in Monkey Greg's blind comparison.

Sarge

[PerfectWagnerite]

As far as Bruckner 6th goes a good complement to the classic Klemperer is this one:



The soundscape is darker with less forwardly balanced winds. Here the orchestral timbre built on Schubert and Beethoven really pays dividends in terms of contrast and beauty of tone.

[TheGSMoeller]

Indeed, that is still my favorite Bruckner 6th...and it won the silver in Monkey Greg's blind comparison.

Sarge

My dear friend, Sarge. It was Slowibidache/Munich that won. Klemperer was a close second.

Edit: Oops. Silver is correct, my eyes, and brain, deceived me.

[TheGSMoeller]

There are many great Bruckner 6's out there, and Dohnanyi was one of the first I heard that really grabbed my interest into the work.

[PerfectWagnerite]

There are many great Bruckner 6's out there, and Dohnanyi was one of the first I heard that really grabbed my interest into the work.

Bingo.

CVD's Bruckner sort of flew under the radar for the most part because in theory Cleveland is not Vienna or Berlin (then again nor is Vienna or Berlin Cleveland either)...

It just shows you can have so many different ways of playing Bruckner and make the music interesting.

[Sergeant Rock]

My dear friend, Sarge. It was Slowibidache/Munich that won. Klemperer was a close second.

Edit: Oops. Silver is correct, my eyes, and brain, deceived me.

Happens to the best of us 

Sarge

[TheGSMoeller]

It just shows you can have so many different ways of playing Bruckner and make the music interesting.

100% true. Bruckner symphonies is in my top three of Composer/Genre combos that greatly benefit from listening to, and in my case owning, many recordings and interpretations. 

[Jo498]

Brucker uses some elements from Beethoven's 9th in many works. (Most frequently the "primeval fog" of the beginning and the ostinato in the "funeral march section" of the coda of the first movement)
But I'd say that the 6th is actually one of the few where he does not... because this one does not really start with "fog" and the theme is clearly articulated and rather "melodic" from the beginning, not build up from fanfare motives or so.

[Sergeant Rock]

As far as Bruckner 6th goes a good complement to the classic Klemperer is this one:



The soundscape is darker with less forwardly balanced winds. Here the orchestral timbre built on Schubert and Beethoven really pays dividends in terms of contrast and beauty of tone.

[Mister Sharpe]

Still searching for that one special Poème de l'amour et de la mer of Chausson.  Tenor or soprano (I'm an equal opportunity employer).  I won't mention what I think of three or four recordings I have, ranging from dismally disappointing to just acceptable, in my book.  Whose do you like? 

[PerfectWagnerite]

My dear friend, Sarge. It was Slowibidache/Munich that won. Klemperer was a close second.

Where do my boys CVD/Clevelanders finish in that poll?

[Sergeant Rock]

Where do my boys CVD/Clevelanders finish in that poll?

Dohnányi/Cleveland was eliminated in the third round (after outlasting many famous names). Didn't make the finals.

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,23157.msg837855.html#msg837855


Sarge