The trouble with Bruckner

[Darwin]

...is that there isn't enough of his music!

So for those of us who, having heard everything he wrote in multiple versions, crave MORE BRUCKNER!!! ...are there works by other composers which might fulfil that yearning?

I can think of very few: only Rautavaara's 3rd Symphony really seems to qualify.

Maybe fellow forummers can come up with more candidates. Perhaps pupils of Bruckner, or "next generation" German-speaking composers whose music might fit the bill?

And yes, I do realise that this is a "big ask", as the current parlance has it...

[chasmaniac]

Bruckner... He played for the Red Sox, right?

[Sergeant Rock]

Furtwängler Symphony #2

Richard Wetz Symphonies 1, 2 and 3

Sarge

[Sergeant Rock]

Hans Rott Symphony: a little bit Bruckner, a little bit Wagner, a little bit Brahms, a little bit Smetana, a whole lot of Mahler (or Mahler is a whole lot of Rott  )

Sarge

[Darwin]

Furtwängler Symphony #2

Richard Wetz Symphonies 1, 2 and 3

Sarge

Thank you - I haven't heard those. I'll investigate 

[eyeresist]

[ASIN]B006J4AHHC[/ASIN]Saint Saens: Symphony No. 3

[ASIN]B0014118D2[/ASIN]Kalinnikov: Symphony No. 1  (with apologies for the cover!)

[ASIN]B00000I7RC[/ASIN]Rautavaara: Symphony No. 3

[ASIN]B0000016GB[/ASIN]Schnittke: Symphony No. 3

[ASIN]B000005EBQ[/ASIN]Beethoven: Symphony No. 9

[Brian]

I'm not sure about Kalinnikov, but...

Beethoven: Symphony No. 9

...in the specific performance eyeresist cites, with Barenboim and the Staatskapelle Berlin, Beethoven's Ninth is very Brucknerian.

If you like extremely early Bruckner, you might do well to seek out Rufinatscha's Sixth on Chandos or Schubert's final symphony. But I'm sure 'extremely early Bruckner' isn't what you meant!

[Mirror Image]

The trouble with Bruckner is there just isn't enough cowbell in his music.

[Darwin]

Furtwängler Symphony #2

Richard Wetz Symphonies 1, 2 and 3

Sarge

Wetz - hmmm, a bit, well, wet compared with AB?

The Furtwangler I have yet to get round to...

Simpson! His Ninth sounds promising on Youtube 

[Cato]

How about the symphony by his favorite student Hans Rott: people talk about its influence on Mahler, but Rott is not a little under the influence of Bruckner, and Brahms too, as the work is a fusion of sorts.

[asin]B00096S2U0[/asin]

[eyeresist]

Simpson! His Ninth sounds promising on Youtube 

It sounds more like chopped-up Sibelius to me

[Uncle Connie]

Strong second on Richard Wetz, although he has some serious awkwardness owing to lack of proper training.

Furtwängler actually wrote three symphonies and a piano concerto and they all have a Brucknerian feel to them.

And then there's this strange bird:

[asin]B0013PS4AY[/asin]

Lots of Brucknerian echoes and hints, but also lots of other stuff tossed in; in all, uneven but intriguing.  (Hausegger was the one who premiered the original version of the Bruckner 9; his 1938 recording is still for sale.)

Symphonies of Felix von Weingartner also might be of interest; again, Brucknerian elements but hardly a clone.  Good music though.

And one more, a real oddity but well worth the trouble :

[asin]B004R7WGR2[/asin]

It's very hard for me to understand why it has taken so long to rediscover this lady; CPO has now put out this disc and also one of chamber music, and while she is no threat to the Top 10 Greatest, her music has a real brilliance that I found wholly unexpected.  Again, as with the previous people mentioned, the spirit of Bruckner is present in great measure, but this is not Bruckner's Tenth.  But then, really, what IS Bruckner's Tenth?

[snyprrr]

Penderecki 2?

[eyeresist]

Penderecki 2?

To me that sounds more like Liszt.

[Darwin]

Penderecki 2?

A symphony I like a great deal. I have an old Polish recording (Kaspczyk, 1981) with wonderfully rorty low brass. And I agree that it has quite a lot of the Bruckner sound to it (maybe not the content... but never mind!).

I seem to have the Rott symphony on my Brennan, and I know I have one of the Furtwanglers on a CD - but my CDs are all packed away at the moment because I'm about to move house. I think. Some of you probably know how it is... at least this forum provides a few stress-free minutes in each day...

Uncle Connie, thanks for those pointers. How/why do you get to hear these super-obscure works? I don't have enough time (or money) to delve so deep.

PS Having now sampled the Hausegger via Youtube (I didn't realise until recently that there was so much music there) I am impressed. It may not be much like Bruckner, but to my inexpert ears it sounds much more competent than Wetz - better argued and, perhaps because it is technically superior, more sincere and communicative. Added to my Amazon wish list!

[Superhorn]

  I've never been able to understand the neglect of the Paul Dukas symphony in C major ,his  only surviving one. (apparently,another was destroyed by the composer).  It has a certain Brucknerian  granduer and seriousness , and is  a very moving and exciting work .
It's in three movements, with highly energetic outer ones and a  brooding and earnest adagio between . 
It's chock full of  attractive thematic material  very skillfully developed , and when you hear it for the first time, you'll wonder where it's been all your life . 
   There are several recordings, by Slatkin on RCA, Yan Pascal Tprtellier  on Chandos , and the late Jean Fournet on Denon, and Jean martinon on EMI,t's a  for example.
I got to know the symphony on a Decca LP back in th e70s swith Walter Weller and the LPO, coupled with the Sorceror's Apprentice .
It's a terrific performance, but I don't believe it's ever been  reissued on CD, which is a pity . Grab it if it ever does.

[Florestan]

I'm not sure about Kalinnikov

To my ears Kalinnikov's music is Russian through and through, couldn't be farther away from Bruckner than that.. 

[Cato]

  I've never been able to understand the neglect of the Paul Dukas Symphony in C major ,his  only surviving one. (apparently,another was destroyed by the composer).  It has a certain Brucknerian  granduer and seriousness , and is  a very moving and exciting work .

You are quite right, and through it Dukas proves Schoenberg's statement that C major still contained possibilities.

It should be heard at concerts more often than it is.

To my ears Kalinnikov's music is Russian through and through, couldn't be farther away from Bruckner than that.. 

I found the choice a little awry also: certainly if you want more Tchaikovsky, then seek Kalinnikov!  His two symphonies are most excellent!

[Leo K.]

Strong second on Richard Wetz, although he has some serious awkwardness owing to lack of proper training.

Furtwängler actually wrote three symphonies and a piano concerto and they all have a Brucknerian feel to them.

And then there's this strange bird:

[asin]B0013PS4AY[/asin]

Lots of Brucknerian echoes and hints, but also lots of other stuff tossed in; in all, uneven but intriguing.  (Hausegger was the one who premiered the original version of the Bruckner 9; his 1938 recording is still for sale.)

Symphonies of Felix von Weingartner also might be of interest; again, Brucknerian elements but hardly a clone.  Good music though.

And one more, a real oddity but well worth the trouble :

[asin]B004R7WGR2[/asin]

It's very hard for me to understand why it has taken so long to rediscover this lady; CPO has now put out this disc and also one of chamber music, and while she is no threat to the Top 10 Greatest, her music has a real brilliance that I found wholly unexpected.  Again, as with the previous people mentioned, the spirit of Bruckner is present in great measure, but this is not Bruckner's Tenth.  But then, really, what IS Bruckner's Tenth?

Thanks for this overview! I am really interested to give the above recordings a go, especially Wetz, who will be my next purchase for next month.

[Chaszz]

I've off and on been drawing attention here to two late Romantics: Parry and Franz Schmidt. Not especially Brucknerian, but at least late Romantic, good, and mostly overlooked.