Favorite Bruckner Interpreters

[TheGSMoeller]

I've been on an intense Bruckner mission the past week. Returning to old favorites and also exploring unfamiliar heavyweights. Bruckner was a composer I arrived to at an early age, along with Mahler and R.Strauss, mainly because of their incredible and challenging writing for brass instruments (I played horn, my brother trombone). He went missing from my playlist for quite sometime, and his return is a most welcomed one.
Bruckner seems to be one of the more popular composers here at GMG, and I have read some insightful and personal posts about his music.
I wanted to explore more about the many interpreters of Bruckner's oeuvre, I have some favorites that have been that way for many years (like Dohnanyi) and some recent discoveries (Celibidache) that have brought new observations.

I wanted to know more about some of your favorite Bruckner interpreters, and what about their recordings or performances made it that way. Why it affects you more than others. And remember, this is about YOUR favorites, not what is considered the benchmarks.

The poll is not necessarily to determine a winner, but just to get an idea of the general consensus. And I realize I have missed some conductors and I apologize, I have set the poll so users can change their votes. So inform me of a name, or names, I have omitted and I will add them.

Thank you for the participation. 

[mahler10th]

I picked three...but would dispense with Karajan (sacrilege!) and bring in Kubelik, who is not on the list.  Wand is my number one, in particular his BPO stuff, though I play the Cologne RSO more.  Bring Kubelik in please!

[TheGSMoeller]

I picked three...but would dispense with Karajan (sacrilege!) and bring in Kubelik, who is not on the list.  Wand is my number one, in particular his BPO stuff, though I play the Cologne RSO more.  Bring Kubelik in please!

Done. 

[Mirror Image]

No Giulini?

[TheGSMoeller]

No Giulini?

Another addition.

[Mirror Image]

Another addition.

Thanks, Greg. Now I can vote!

[Lisztianwagner]

I voted for Karajan (my absolute favourite Bruckner interpreter), Sinopoli and Tintner.
But, on second thoughts, Furtwängler also recorded excellent versions of symphonies No.4, No.5 and No.7.

[Sergeant Rock]

Hey, Greg. You should add Skrowaczewski.

Sarge

[Sergeant Rock]

This is tough...not the first two choices (Maazel and Celibidache, no doubts, no indecision) but the third. Of the other conductors who have recorded all the symphonies (or nearly all) none are entirely successful in pleasing me. Recall, for example, the Karajan/Wand Death Match...which ended in a tie. Chailly strikes me as rather cold and clinical in general. Jochum...never a favorite. Haitink has his moments, especially the later recordings, but too few to be a contender. I haven't heard enough of Skrowaczewsk's cycle to make an informed decision. Ditto Inbal and Davies.

I love Szell's Bruckner but he only conducted 3, 7, 8 and 9. Klemperer recorded great performances of 4, 5 and 6 and a fascinating 7 but I dislike his 8 and 9. My favorite versions (beyond Maazel and Celi) are all over the map: Blunier 0, Wand 1, Barenboim 2, Szell 3, Karajan EMI 4 and Wand 4 (his last recording), Dohnányi 5, Klemperer 6 and his Bizzaro world counterpart, Norrington 6, Chailly and Karajan 7, Boulez and Szell 8, Guilini, Haitink and Jochum EMI 9.

I suppose it comes down to Wand or Karajan...but they tend to cancel each other out. I've always loved Karajan's way with Bruckner (if not always the sound of his DG recordings) but Wand has grown on me in the last few years (in part due to Jens' passionate advocacy). Barenboim tends to cancel himself out    I like the Berlin cycle; don't like the Chicago. Hmmmmm....

Sarge

[Brahmsian]

I voted for Jochum and Giulini.  Great poll, Greg! 

[Cato]

I've been on an intense Bruckner mission the past week.

In a sense, I have been on an intense Bruckner mission for most of my life!   

We have discussed some time ago what might be called the problem of "imprinting," i.e. when one first hears the work of a composer and is "wowed" by it, that specific performance becomes imprinted as "the way to do it."  It takes effort then to accept other performances.

On that basis, I am heavily biased 50 years later by Eugen Jochum's DGG recordings, but have loosened up in recent years.   0:)   e.g. The Tintner recordings of original versions of the early symphonies are now on my shelves.

But what about Carl Schuricht for the list?  I do not think he ever recorded a complete cycle (a few websites indicate that he did not), but certainly he was known in the 1950's and '60's as a fine interpreter.

[TheGSMoeller]

Great comments, everyone. I've added a few into the poll as requested.

[Mirror Image]

I voted for Wand, Celibidache, and Giulini. If I could have included a fourth choice then I would have picked Karl Bohm who I still feel is an underrated Brucknerian.

[Todd]

Probably the easiest such poll I've seen.  Celi and Jochum for all those recordings, and then, standing head and shoulders above all others, Carlo Maria Giulini for his DG recordings of the last two symphonies.  Two of the greatest symphonic recordings yet made.

[TheGSMoeller]

John and Todd giving high compliments to Giulini, will have to give him a try. Interesting (and in no way wrong) considering he has only recorded a small amount of the symphonies.

[Mirror Image]

Nobody beats Giulini's 9th performance with the Vienna Philharmonic. Nobody. One of my most treasured recordings of my Bruckner collection.

[Conor71]

^^I got the Giulini 8th about a month ago - reminds me I need to give it a spin!
Edit: My poll options: Chailly, Jochum, Karajan

[mc ukrneal]

Nobody beats Giulini's 9th performance with the Vienna Philharmonic. Nobody. One of my most treasured recordings of my Bruckner collection.

I'm not so sure. Have you heard the Haitink/Concerthebouw (not the one in the set, but the one he did later)?

[david johnson]

i believe i'll write in heinz bongartz.

[aukhawk]

[cough] Simone Young