Yesterday, I listened to Symphony No. 1, and I posted my first impressions in the "Purchases Today" thread. What I found was a stormy work with great power and energy, punctuated by a nice interlude in the form of a lovely slow movement. I was especially amazed at the scherzo; seldom have I heard one with such power. Considering that this is an early work, and not generally considered the best of his output, I will be interested to hear the others. I am listening to them in order, so I'll be posting something about No. 2 before long.
His first symphony is early in terms of chronology with the other symphonies, but it was completed at the ripe young age of 42. Bruckner was long a student of the form before he was inspired to craft his symphonies. And, as you are aware, the
Study Symphony and the
Nullte were begun before his first (though the 0 was revised after completion of the 1st). From that view, the first can be considered a mature work. It is certainly an exciting piece especially with Jochum's mercurial tempi. The sound is particularly good in the set you have... it is almost hard to believe the performances are from the 60's (other than the '58 5th which does show its age).
I would be interested to hear the thoughts of others about No. 1, and about the others as I move on to them. Also, recommendations for a second Bruckner cycle would be useful; these seem like symphonies that I should have more than one performance of. Also, perhaps when I'm done with these I will move on to some of his other music. Any thoughts on his masses?
Jochum's DG masses with the same Bavarian group from that DG symphony cycle are also very good. Barenboim's EMI recordings of Bruckner's vocal works are also quite good, and the set includes Bruckner's
Te Deum which he considered his finest work. It certainly sounds that on the EMI set.
As far as other cycles go, I think you might be best served with an à la carte selection of your favorite symphonies. Georg Tintner has a great cycle from Naxos that is budget priced. But if I had to do it over again, I probably would have selected only his 3rd and 7th as I don't find I listen to any of the others near as much. Stanislaw Skrowaczewski's Saarbrücken set is another that has received strong positive reviews. His timings seem very similar to Jochum's though, so you may get a general feeling of sameness with that set. Tintner's cycle on the other hand features a broader reading and some interesting versions (non-standard). Both of those sets, however, can be purchased piecemeal so if you wanted to add the 0 and 00 symphonies, you could purchase them separately rather than the whole cycle.
There will be a great variety of suggestions on which composers you should seek to compliment your cycle. Sinopoli's 5th, along with Karajan's EMI 7th and '88 8th, and Giulini's 2nd (and OOP 8th--but available as a CD-R from Arkiv) make for some of the finest recordings of all Bruckner's symphonies. Tennstedt's budget priced 4th and 8th combo is another great choice. Klemperer's 1964 Philharmonia 6th, Wand's late 6th with the BPO and Böhm's 4th (along with Karajan's 4th--the EMI release is lower priced and just as fine as the later DG release) are all among those that I would not want to be without. If money is not an object, Barenboim's Chicago 1st coupled with
Te Deum is another fine recording; it is OOP though, so you would have to seek it out on the secondary market.
I just ordered the Celibidache box from EMI and I am looking forward to his controversial interpretations. And Inbal's 4th (original version) is next on my list as the Scherzo is completely different from the later "hunting horn" scherzo in the Haas edition.
