Favorite Bruckner Symphony

[vers la flamme]

I need to know

[DavidW]

The eighth!  Which funny enough for years it was my least favorite.  But then one conductor opened the door, and now it has displaced what was my favorite, the seventh.

[vers la flamme]

The eighth!  Which funny enough for years it was my least favorite.  But then one conductor opened the door, and now it has displaced what was my favorite, the seventh.

Tell me who; because the 8th has been my least favorite for years, and the 7th is my favorite 

[Luke]

The 7th for me, too.

[brewski]

Definitely the Eighth. In the early 1970s, I discovered this recording with Haitink and the Concertgebouw, and played it endlessly. Then in the 1990s, when I finally got myself to Amsterdam, it was for the Eighth with Chailly.

I do love the Ninth (with two performances this weekend as reminders), and also love Nos. 4, 5, and 7. (I mean, I like all of them.) But the scale of the Eighth, and its little thematic building blocks that are so simple—I find fascinating. The Adagio is one of the greatest things ever.



-Bruce

[Lisztianwagner]

The 7th for me as well.

[vers la flamme]

The 7th for me as well.

The 7th for me, too.

It's such a magnificent work.

[DavidW]

Tell me who; because the 8th has been my least favorite for years, and the 7th is my favorite 

Karajan

[brewski]

Tell me who; because the 8th has been my least favorite for years, and the 7th is my favorite 

I love No. 7. The opening cello line is one of the most gorgeous things ever, and the rest of the piece fulfills that promise.

-Bruce

[ChamberNut]

It was the 8th, then it was the 7th and has now been firmly the 9th for quite some time.

9th

[Mapman]

I'm also voting for #8. It's the first Bruckner symphony that I really appreciated. (The 7th is in a close 2nd place, because of its incredible 1st movement.)

[DavidW]

I love No. 7. The opening cello line is one of the most gorgeous things ever, and the rest of the piece fulfills that promise.

-Bruce

I can always pull that melody right back and play it in my head.  And it always takes me back to my undergrad days.

[Cato]

Can I have eleven #1 votes? 

I could vote for #7 out of sentimentality, as I discovered Bruckner through seeing its score when I was very young.

I could vote for each of them because of the thrill that each brought me, when I discovered them for the first time in the early 1960's.  (#00 and #0 had to wait for the 1970's. )

Right now...I am feeling great emotion for #5!  Especially Eugen Jochum's famous last performance of it:

[brewski]

Can I have eleven #1 votes? 

I could vote for #7 out of sentimentality, as I discovered Bruckner through seeing its score when I was very young.

I could vote for each of them because of the thrill that each brought me, when I discovered them for the first time in the early 1960's.  (#00 and #0 had to wait for the 1970's. )

Right now...I am feeling great emotion for #5!  Especially Eugen Jochum's famous last performance of it:

The Fifth took me awhile, I think because of its density—the finale, in particular—and overall, it seemed more monolithic than some of the others. But listening to a bit of this Jochum reminded me that I hadn't heard any of his recordings in quite some time—and I may not have heard this one!

-Bruce

[Holden]

Karajan

I somehow knew you were going to say that. Was it this one? 

[DavidW]

Yup that is the one!

[vers la flamme]

The 6th is a close second for me, and I'm sad no one voted for it.

@DavidW I have the Karajan Vienna. I'll look out for that Berlin one. I don't know much of HVK's Bruckner and frankly haven't cared much for what I've heard so far.

[DavidW]

For some reason I just don't like the Vienna Karajan 8th.  It just sounds dull to me.

[vers la flamme]

For some reason I just don't like the Vienna Karajan 8th.  It just sounds dull to me.

Me neither. Here's the Karajan Bruckner I have: the Vienna 8th, the Vienna 7th, and the EMI Berlin 4th. So nothing of the Berlin/DG cycle, which seems to be what people like. I suppose I will get around to hearing it some day, but I already have so much Bruckner... and as for other cycles that I'm interested in getting, Karajan is not really high on the list. (I think my next one, if there ever will be a next one, will be Wand/Köln.)

[classicalgeek]

Got to go with one of the popular choices, no. 7. The whole piece is just magnificent, but I'm especially fond of that sublimely beautiful slow movement, one of the great slow movements of the entire symphonic literature.