Bruckner's Abbey

[Sergeant Rock]

That makes two of us.

Two with exquisite taste 

Sarge

[Florestan]

Two with exquisite taste 

That goes without saying. 

On topic: my favorite Bruckner Symphonies (ie, they kept my attention from beginning to end) are 1 and 4 with Jochum / SOBR (honestly, the only versions I've heard) --- where should I go next, and with whom? 

[Sergeant Rock]

That goes without saying. 

On topic: my favorite Bruckner Symphonies (ie, they kept my attention from beginning to end) are 1 and 4 with Jochum / SOBR (honestly, the only versions I've heard) --- where should I go next, and with whom? 

Which ones didn't hold your attention? I need to know that before making any recommendations. I will say the Third is my favorite but not many would agree.

Sarge

[Florestan]

Which ones didn't hold your attention? I need to know that before making any recommendations.

Frankly, all other than 1 and 4 --- coincidentally or not, these are the two I've also heard live. And: from the 1st I absolutely love the Scherzo, while the 4th I absolutely love as a whole.

I have no problem whatsoever with Mahler, but Bruckner is a hard nut for me. 

[kishnevi]

Frankly, all other than 1 and 4 --- coincidentally or not, these are the two I've also heard live. And: from the 1st I absolutely love the Scherzo, while the 4th I absolutely love as a whole.

I have no problem whatsoever with Mahler, but Bruckner is a hard nut for me. 

If 1 can hold your attention, they all should!

Try the Seventh with Herreweghe.
And the Second and Third with Karajan.
Or the Sixth with anyone other than Tintner or Colin Davis.

[Marc]

Frankly, all other than 1 and 4 --- coincidentally or not, these are the two I've also heard live. And: from the 1st I absolutely love the Scherzo, while the 4th I absolutely love as a whole.

I have no problem whatsoever with Mahler, but Bruckner is a hard nut for me. 

Both Bruckner and Mahler grew on me beginning with their nos 1 & 4.
Then I got hooked on Mahler songs, the Finale of his 2nd, and, after attending a live performance of no 5, the rest of the entire 'package'.

Bruckner took a bit longer, but a live concert of no 9 (Reinbert de Leeuw conducting a Dutch youth orchestra) helped immensely.
I learned to love no 6, and the rest followed after that.

[Florestan]

If 1 can hold your attention, they all should!

Try the Seventh with Herreweghe.
And the Second and Third with Karajan.
Or the Sixth with anyone other than Tintner or Colin Davis.

You always hold my attention, Jeffrey!

Duly noted, thanks.

[Marc]

You always hold my attention, Jeffrey!

Duly noted, thanks.

I would like to recommend no 7 with Hans Rosbaud conducting the Südwestfunk Orchester of Baden-Baden.
And for no 9 maybe the rather idiosyncratic recording of Bernstein. But if you like his Mahler, you might appreciate his Bruckner, too.

https://www.amazon.com/Bruckner-Symphony-No-7-Major/dp/B0007GIZF4/?tag=goodmusicguid-21
https://www.amazon.com/Bruckner-Symphony-No-9-Anton/dp/B000001GFW/?tag=goodmusicguid-21

[Florestan]

Both Bruckner and Mahler grew on me beginning with their nos 1 & 4.

The first Mahler I've ever heard was S3, with Vaclav Neuman / Czech PO and I was spellbound --- he instantly replaced Beethoven as my favorite composer, but in my defence it should be noted that I was 14 at the time. 

Then I got hooked on Mahler songs,

The first Mahler songs I've heard was DKWH --- love at first sight, followed by RL and DKL in this order --- ditto. I've yet to hear DLVDE.

[Sergeant Rock]

I have no problem whatsoever with Mahler, but Bruckner is a hard nut for me. 

That was my experience as well. I was immediately drawn to Mahler but Bruckner eluded me for about five years. The Fourth (Klemp, a recommendation by a good friend) was my eventual way into the music. After that, the rest was easy.

I do agree with Jeffrey: if you like the First, the rest shouldn't be a problem (the First is my least favorite, actually). But obviously, it is a problem. So what to recommend? I have no idea   Seriously, try to hear the others live. Hearing Cleveland do the Third was a revelation. I even wrote a poem about that experience (which The Bruckner Journal published).

Sarge

[Sergeant Rock]

I've yet to hear DLVDE.

  Really? Remedy that soon! It may be Mahler's masterpiece. Try to hear Haitink and Baker...or Kubelik and Baker.

Sarge

[Florestan]

Hearing Cleveland do the Third was a revelation. I even wrote a poem about that experience

Wow! I'd really and in all earnest be interested in reading it, please, please, please! (and I'm sure it's not only I).

You mean Cleveland / Szell, right?

[Florestan]

  Really? Remedy that soon! It may be Mahler's masterpiece. Try to hear Haitink and Baker...or Kubelik and Baker.

Will do and report.

[Sergeant Rock]

Wow! I'd really and in all earnest be interested in reading it, please, please, please! (and I'm sure it's not only I).

You mean Cleveland / Szell, right?

Unfortunately, not Szell (I do own his recording, and it's a favorite). It was Aldo Ceccato that night at Severance. He was a frequent guest conductor with the Cleveland after Szell's death. His Third was sensational. The poem:

THE D MINOR, THIRD VERSION, NOWAK

for David "Pete" Petersen

Conducting the Cleveland, Aldo Ceccato, baton
like a sword, was charging his way through the finale
of Bruckner's symphonic cathedral to Wagner
like it was the gallop from Rossini's Tell

(Latin temperament irrepressible, allowing
no monumental peasant piety nor Ländler lope)
when I noticed the Afro among the three thousand
palefaces in attendance at Severance:

as the coda approached, that majestic moment
when trumpet theme returns for a major recycling,
the white woman beside him tapped his shoulder,
alerting. He tensed forward, straining to hear,

fanfares rallentando and...wholly Hallelujah!!!
Cleveland explodes!
braying horns, tuba and trombones erupting,
trumpets machine-gunning triplets.
   
I was showered in brass shrapnel, fifths,
goose bumps; a silly grin spreading. And
black and white
beamed enormously at each other

as he shook his head yes! O yes! up and down,
up and down, yes! and yes! And yes,
I thought amazed, this ain't Miles or Marvin,
stereotypes burning away in Brucknerian blaze.
   
Yes. . .make color and culture irrelevant,
build your Gothic structure of sound,
hurl your themes toward heaven like spires
and stride, augmented, through the macrocosm, Anton: sainted!

And let your majors and minors linger in my mind...

[Florestan]

Unfortunately, not Szell (I do own his recording, and it's a favorite). It was Aldo Ceccato that night at Severance. He was a frequent guest conductor with the Cleveland after Szell's death. His Third was sensational. The poem:

THE D MINOR, THIRD VERSION, NOWAK

for David "Pete" Petersen

Conducting the Cleveland, Aldo Ceccato, baton
like a sword, was charging his way through the finale
of Bruckner's symphonic cathedral to Wagner
like it was the gallop from Rossini's Tell

(Latin temperament irrepressible, allowing
no monumental peasant piety nor Ländler lope)
when I noticed the Afro among the three thousand
palefaces in attendance at Severance:

as the coda approached, that majestic moment
when trumpet theme returns for a major recycling,
the white woman beside him tapped his shoulder,
alerting. He tensed forward, straining to hear,

fanfares rallentando and. . .wholly Hallelujah!!!
Cleveland explodes!
braying horns, tuba and trombones erupting,
trumpets machine-gunning triplets.
   
I was showered in brass shrapnel, fifths,
goose bumps; a silly grin spreading. And
black and white
beamed enormously at each other

as he shook his head yes! O yes! up and down,
up and down, yes! and yes! And yes,
I thought amazed, this ain't Miles or Marvin,
stereotypes burning away in Brucknerian blaze.
   
Yes. . .make color and culture irrelevant,
build your Gothic structure of sound,
hurl your themes toward heaven like spires
and stride, augmented, through the macrocosm, Anton: sainted!

And let your majors and minors linger in my mind...

Many thanks! Lots of things to absorb and digest --- Rossini as a reference to Bruckner, hmmm... Now I'll really have to listen attentively to this darned B3!  --- will do and report asap.

[Sergeant Rock]

Rossini as a reference to Bruckner, hmmm... Now I'll really have to listen attentively to this darned B3! 

Well, just be aware of poetic license 

Sarge

[Florestan]

Well, just be aware of poetic license 

Poetic license qua, poetic license là, poetic license su, poetic license giù... bravo, bravissimo, fortunatissimo... Qua la fanfara... Presto la coda... a te licenza non mancherà...

[Cato]

Frankly, all other than 1 and 4 --- coincidentally or not, these are the two I've also heard live. And: from the 1st I absolutely love the Scherzo, while the 4th I absolutely love as a whole.

I have no problem whatsoever with Mahler, but Bruckner is a hard nut for me. 

I have told the story earlier, but just in case...

Many moons ago, I happened to see the score of the Nowak Edition of the Bruckner Seventh at my public library in Dayton (state of Ohio).

As soon as I began mentally hearing the opening pages of the work, I thought: "I MUST HEAR THIS!!!"  And fortunately the library was in the process of purchasing all the Bruckner symphonies on DGG with of course Saint  0:)  Eugen Jochum !   

I absorbed everything and loved everything as soon as I heard it!  The First Symphony is such a whirlwind of emotions: it is often ignored in lists, but I have always thought it was one of the best of the nine!

Unfortunately, not Szell (I do own his recording, and it's a favorite). It was Aldo Ceccato that night at Severance. He was a frequent guest conductor with the Cleveland after Szell's death. His Third was sensational. The poem:

THE D MINOR, THIRD VERSION, NOWAK

for David "Pete" Petersen

Conducting the Cleveland, Aldo Ceccato, baton
like a sword, was charging his way through the finale
of Bruckner's symphonic cathedral to Wagner
like it was the gallop from Rossini's Tell

(Latin temperament irrepressible, allowing
no monumental peasant piety nor Ländler lope)
when I noticed the Afro among the three thousand
palefaces in attendance at Severance:

as the coda approached, that majestic moment
when trumpet theme returns for a major recycling,
the white woman beside him tapped his shoulder,
alerting. He tensed forward, straining to hear,

fanfares rallentando and...wholly Hallelujah!!!
Cleveland explodes!
braying horns, tuba and trombones erupting,
trumpets machine-gunning triplets.
   
I was showered in brass shrapnel, fifths,
goose bumps; a silly grin spreading. And
black and white
beamed enormously at each other

as he shook his head yes! O yes! up and down,
up and down, yes! and yes! And yes,
I thought amazed, this ain't Miles or Marvin,
stereotypes burning away in Brucknerian blaze.
   
Yes. . .make color and culture irrelevant,
build your Gothic structure of sound,
hurl your themes toward heaven like spires
and stride, augmented, through the macrocosm, Anton: sainted!

And let your majors and minors linger in my mind...

Excellent work, Sarge!  And "Yes!" to the incredible conductor Aldo Ceccato of the good ol' days!  I recall listening to a good number of works conducted by him with various orchestras.

[Drasko]

Any thoughts on these? Bruckner with French orchestras, especially mid century ones, is hen's teeth territory.

[Cato]

Any thoughts on these? Bruckner with French orchestras, especially mid century ones, is hen's teeth territory.

I cannot say specifically, only that Carl Schuricht was one of the great Bruckner conductors.  I had a performance of his on the old Angel/Seraphim label with the Ninth Symphony (maybe with the Vienna Philharmonic (?)) and it was a great one!