Bruckner's Abbey

[jlaurson]

n-1 would be Berlin, which I have and like although I wouldn't rate it as the very best.   (I don't have the Chicago cycle, and am not sure it was ever issued on CD in its entirety.)  Bottom line, I'm skeptical that the new DG would be much different than the previous Teldec/BP, except with inferior audio engineering. 

I can't say who I would want to hear in Bruckner, but someone who is making a first crack at it would be preferable.   I would have said Maazel, but his cycle is just coming out.  Maybe Blomstedt.  I liked the Bruckner recordings he made in San Francisco.

Blomstedt in Bruckner I can see... very unfussy stuff. Builds up intensity much like a Bach work.
Maazel, well, I'm listening to it... but I'm not blown away. BRSO recordings from the 80s, much lauded performances then... and surely better than anything he'd do now.
Barenboim did the Berlin Bruckner in the 90s. The Chicago recordings were made in the 70s. So I'm confused what you mean by "n-1".

[Scarpia]

Blomstedt in Bruckner I can see... very unfussy stuff. Builds up intensity much like a Bach work.
Maazel, well, I'm listening to it... but I'm not blown away. BRSO recordings from the 80s, much lauded performances then... and surely better than anything he'd do now.
Barenboim did the Berlin Bruckner in the 90s. The Chicago recordings were made in the 70s. So I'm confused what you mean by "n-1".

Sorry, I'm being pseudo-mathematical.   "n" would signify the most recent, and n-1 would signify the one before the most recent. 

At this point, I've heard enough Bruckner that I'm rather skeptical that I'm going to hear something really "new" in the latest recording, or at least that I will hear anything new that is new in a good way. 

[Sergeant Rock]

And now I ask for best/favorite Bruckner 5th in modern sound.

Sarge might mention Barenboim's Berlin Phil 5th.

I really enjoy Barenboim's Berlin Fifth, primarily because it reminds me of Furtwängler's approach to Bruckner. But it's not one of my favorites. Those would be:

Dohnányi/Cleveland (not your father's Bruckner: swift, fiery, intensely dramatic)

Celibidache/Munich Phil (I have the live in Toyko Altus CD)

Jochum/Concertgebouw (another live recording, on the Tahra label: a legendary performance in which Jochum revives a Schalk practise of introducing additional brass--4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones and tuba--at key points in the last movement)

Sarge

[kishnevi]

I'd be interested in folks' opinion on these two, which are the only recordings of the Bruckner 5 I have.

[DavidW]

Well it sounds like Dohnanyi/Cleveland is a must listen!  But it also sounds like there is alot of stiff competition for this symphony. 

I've ordered Dohnanyi and will hopefully receive it before I leave for the holidays.

[jlaurson]

I'd be interested in folks' opinion on these two, which are the only recordings of the Bruckner 5 I have.

The Welser-Moest ist pretty good, actually. The Zander is good for someone who has 'just discovered' that Symphony. I was pleased with it, but hardly blown away.

[Daverz]

I'd be interested in folks' opinion on these two, which are the only recordings of the Bruckner 5 I have.

Zander's performance is OK, but this set is particularly worth it for the enlightening talk on the 2nd disc (Hurwitz doesn't like it because it's competition for his own music "education" products.)  My first choice for the 5th is Karajan, and for a swift 5, Rögner on Berlin Classics (which has about the same overall time as Zander)

[jlaurson]

Zander's performance is OK, but this set is particularly worth it for the enlightening talk on the 2nd disc (Hurwitz doesn't like it because it's competition for his own music "education" products.) 

That could well be the reason for Hurwitz's ridiculous hatred of the speech, but I would also shy away from calling it 'enlightening'. It's one of his more daft spoken essays... though nicely touchy-feely. A bit too excited, as if he had solely dug up Bruckner's 5th out of complete obscurity. [Even if you end up liking it, don't compare it to the actually truly excellent talk on the Mahler 6th.]

[Sergeant Rock]

I'd be interested in folks' opinion on these two, which are the only recordings of the Bruckner 5 I have.

Zander I haven't heard; W-M I really like. Interpretatively at the opposite end from "monumental/epic" (exemplified by Celi, Marthé, Thielemann, Jochum in Amsterdam in 1986), he gives us Bruckner in dramatic guise rather like Dohnányi. It's an interpretive choice I've come to appreciate.

Sarge

[MishaK]

For those of you who like Barenboim's Bruckner, like I do, there is a wonderful recent 9th broadcast with the CSO to be heard on the CSO website. This performance is from the last few "farewell" concerts at the end of Barenboim's tenure with the CSO in June 2006, which featured the 9ths of Bruckner, Mahler and Beethoven.

http://cso.org/ListenAndWatch/Details.aspx?id=14114

Available streaming thru 1/25/11.

[Daverz]

That could well be the reason for Hurwitz's ridiculous hatred of the speech, but I would also shy away from calling it 'enlightening'. It's one of his more daft spoken essays... though nicely touchy-feely. A bit too excited, as if he had solely dug up Bruckner's 5th out of complete obscurity. [Even if you end up liking it, don't compare it to the actually truly excellent talk on the Mahler 6th.]

Your description is amusing.  Maybe I was caught up in the enthusiasm of it.  And, yes, the Mahler 6 talk really is excellent.

[MishaK]

This could be very good. New release from Bavarian radio:


http://www.mdt.co.uk/MDTSite/product/NR_November10/900703.htm

I just finished listening to this for the first time. This is a terriffic performance. Better than the earlier one on Orfeo. Basically what you'd expect from Kubelik: grand but never dragging, incredibly well balanced without loss of warmth, very well thought out tempo relationships. I thought I knew this symphony well, but I was hearing lots of new details in this performance.  Goes to the top of the heap for me, alongside Schuricht and Boulez.

Sorry, I'm being pseudo-mathematical.   "n" would signify the most recent, and n-1 would signify the one before the most recent. 

At this point, I've heard enough Bruckner that I'm rather skeptical that I'm going to hear something really "new" in the latest recording, or at least that I will hear anything new that is new in a good way. 

Missed this discussion earlier... just my two cents here: my Bruckner experiences with Barenboim (several performances each of Nos. 4, 5, 7 & 9 with CSO in various halls - Chicago, Carnegie, Philharmonie Berlin - over the years) have been among the most unforgettable Bruckner listening experiences of my life. I was always a tad disappointed with his two recorded cycles, which, although overall quite good, don't capture what Barenboim is capable of at his best (that said, the CSO 9th and the BPO 2nd are among my favorite recordings of those symphonies). For that reason alone, I won't mind at all if we get a new cycle from him that gets closer to his top form that I have heard in the concert hall. So far, all his recordings with the Staatskapelle have been winners, so there is hope that this one will be better than the earlier two, just like his SKBerlin Schumann is leagues above his earlier CSO version.

[mahler10th]

I also recommend the Metzmacher (and, also, haven't heard the Wergo). But for the best symphony no. 6, with an electrifying performance and great sonics, you must get the Leitner:


...  -CS

I found this little reference whilst looking up Hartmann.  I just wanted to say that this certainly is a reference.  Since I came to Bruckner in 1993 (or he came to me, rather) I've probably heard or posessed more Bruckner 6th Symphonies than you can shake a conductors stick at.
Last year in my living room I picked up the conductors stick myself when I heard this Leitner version of Bruckners 6th.  It was recorded in 1976, but the positioning, the sonics and probably the sheer brilliance of the conductor make this BY FAR one of the most memorable 6ths I, personally, have ever experienced.  It made me look up Leitner for more of his conducting capers, but I couldn't find any more Bruckner recodings by him. 

[jlaurson]

  It made me look up Leitner for more of his conducting capers, but I couldn't find any more Bruckner recodings by him. 

Surely there's a Leitner 9th on Haenssler [LINK] and a "0" on Orfeo [LINK]. Fairly inexpensive, too, in the UK.

[mahler10th]

Surely there's a Leitner 9th on Haenssler [LINK] and a "0" on Orfeo [LINK]. Fairly inexpensive, too, in the UK.

Thanks!   

[MishaK]

BTW, a new reissue of Wand's Cologne cycle is available for less than $4 per disc at amazon:

[asin]B0042U2HLY[/asin]

So silly cheap to make it tempting. What do people here think of this cycle? I'm rather fond of his BPO recordings and his DVDs with the NDR. I'm a little apprehensive about the quality of the playing of the Cologne band. Need I be?

[jlaurson]

BTW, a new reissue of Wand's Cologne cycle is available for less than $4 per disc at amazon:


A.Bruckner
G.Wand

So silly cheap to make it tempting. What do people here think of this cycle? I'm rather fond of his BPO recordings and his DVDs with the NDR. I'm a little apprehensive about the quality of the playing of the Cologne band. Need I be?

No. You need not be. Not in the least. I think this is better (and better played) than the NDR Bruckner. Just not better recorded. It may not touch the Berlin recordings, but it's stupendous no-nonsense, straight-shooting Bruckner. No incense. This cycle made his name at the outset of the 'second summer' of his career.

[rubio]

It seems like part of the Bruckner cycle by Kegel is available from HMV again. I've ordered the 6th as I've read it should be among the best (with some real fantastic cover art as a nice bonus...). Are there other items from this cycle that are recommendable?

http://www.hmv.co.jp/en/product/detail/3979541

[Cato]

For the non-Americans here, in the U.S. there exists a fast-food chain called "Arby's" which specializes in Roast Beef sandwiches (R-B = "Arby's").

They now have an ad on television for some special offer with a nautical theme (?).

The background music for the ad is...the opening....of Bruckner's Seventh Symphony!!!

Sacrilege or Desecration?   0:)

Or smart marketing?   

[MishaK]

No. You need not be. Not in the least. I think this is better (and better played) than the NDR Bruckner. Just not better recorded. It may not touch the Berlin recordings, but it's stupendous no-nonsense, straight-shooting Bruckner. No incense. This cycle made his name at the outset of the 'second summer' of his career.

Ordered it!