The deepest performances of the Bruckner symphonies.

[Mandryka]

Klemperer's EMI recording of the Sixth with ( l think ) the New Philharmonia is well-regarded. I find it slightly un-idiomatic, but still effective. YMMV, of course.

I'm listening to Furtwangler VPO Brukner 8, 1944. Is that unidiomatic?

[LKB]

I'm listening to Furtwangler VPO Brukner 8, 1944. Is that unidiomatic?

I haven't heard that recording. Once I have I may be in a position to answer, depending on the quality of said recording. 

[Mandryka]

I haven't heard that recording. Once I have I may be in a position to answer, depending on the quality of said recording. 

I think the interesting question posed by Klemperer's studio Bruckner vis-à-vis Furtwangler's is what the music gains or loses from urgency and turbulence as opposed to calm, strong, clear, authoritative statement.

[DaveF]

Sobriety, I've just discovered Klemperer's Philharmonia Bruckner 7 and I like it more.

His 6th is excellent, too - one of the few recordings that (for me) makes sense of the 2:3 rhythms in the first movement 2nd theme.

And not a symphony, but arguable with as much variety to it as one (and all done in 8 minutes):

[Le Buisson Ardent]

Klemperer's EMI recording of the Sixth with ( l think ) the New Philharmonia is well-regarded. I find it slightly un-idiomatic, but still effective. YMMV, of course.

I've heard all of his Bruckner on EMI (thanks to my purchasing of the Klemperer box set when it came out) and I have to say that even his famed 6th didn't do a lot for me.

[LKB]

I've heard all of his Bruckner on EMI (thanks to my purchasing of the Klemperer box set when it came out) and I have to say that even his famed 6th didn't do a lot for me.

Fair enough, if we were all identical the world would be insufferably boring. 

[AnotherSpin]

I've heard all of his Bruckner on EMI (thanks to my purchasing of the Klemperer box set when it came out) and I have to say that even his famed 6th didn't do a lot for me.

I tried listening to Klemperer's performance of the Seventh today, but didn't get past the beginning of the second movement.

[Mandryka]

Horenstein LSO Bruckner 8 - this is a bit special. Can't say more than that, but I'm getting a glimpse of why some people rate Bruckner so highly. LSO brass on good form. Good sound generally.

[MickeyBoy]

Horenstein LSO Bruckner 8 - this is a bit special. Can't say more than that, but I'm getting a glimpse of why some people rate Bruckner so highly. LSO brass on good form. Good sound generally.

I heard the Ninth in 1971 at the Royal Festival Hall. The initial climax in the first mvt was a knockout. Horenstein jumped as high as he could as get the maximum spl out of the orchestra. It was thrilling.

[Mandryka]

I heard the Ninth in 1971 at the Royal Festival Hall. The initial climax in the first mvt was a knockout. Horenstein jumped as high as he could as get the maximum spl out of the orchestra. It was thrilling.

The 9th on that disc is unbelievable really -- maybe even more astonishing than the 8th in fact. 

[Mandryka]

Goodall Bruckner 8.

A rather touching anecdote about the performance here

https://liner-notes-magazine.com/articles/a-reluctant-maestro-conducts-bruckners-eighth/

I only saw Goodall once, a Parsifal. He really had a cult following here. Solti's bitchy remark in that article above, that he was not "capable of live conducting" is thought provoking in its way. IMO his Bruckner 8 isn't dead.

This comment which I found on amazon seems right to me

But Goodall offers something different - a sense of struggle, wonderment, uncertainty about the destination, which is surely part of the essence of Bruckner and especially of this uniquely disturbing symphony.

That comment reminds me of ideas about how to play Schubert's piano sonatas - Lonquich, Richter's Paris 1961 D840.

[Herman]

Well, have you listened to e.g. the Seventh Symphony?  Here is Eugen Jochum in his later years, conducting the Concertgebouw Orchestra.

This Jochum performance is totally amazing. It's not just Jochum's "later years"; he died six months after this Japan tour. Still, he and the orchestra had a blast.

[Mandryka]

My gold standards are Jochum (both)

Jochum is very, very good—it took me time to understand that.

Enjoying this one -- it finds a good middle ground between furious and thrilling and majestic. I can certainly hear that he's right for this music.

Well, have you listened to e.g. the Seventh Symphony?  Here is Eugen Jochum in his later years, conducting the Concertgebouw Orchestra.

Later.

[Mandryka]

Can someone talk to me about Bruckner 9 please - including the fourth movement or not.

[Leo K.]

Can someone talk to me about Bruckner 9 please - including the fourth movement or not.

The 9th, even with the 3 movements, sounds complete. The ebb and flow of the granitic structure, an almost stitched together discourse is orchestrated with power and a joy to experience again and again. I do not mind the various completions of the finale, and have no favorite. It is an interesting thought experiment and fun to listen to. But my preferred listening is the three movement torso. Sometimes, in my head canon, the Te Deum in C major, WAB 45 is the finale, and I actually wish this was the finale. I am unapologetic in endorsing the Furtwangler performance, although it is not the only great one.  I don't listen for spirituality, as I am not sure what that would sound like. I listen for texture, drive, and organic unfolding.

[brewski]

Can someone talk to me about Bruckner 9 please - including the fourth movement or not.

I am fine with the three-movement torso. That said, I did hear the completion in 2012 with Rattle and Berlin, and enjoyed it. Haven't heard it since.

Last year in Philadelphia, on an all-Bruckner concert, starting with the motet Christus factus est, Yannick and the Philadelphia Orchestra did the Ninth, followed attacca by the Te Deum. They made a fascinating, persuasive argument for the choral finale, even if a momentary fantasy.

But all that said, again, the initial three movements are sublime on their own. As they say, YMMV.

-Bruce

[hopefullytrusting]

Can someone talk to me about Bruckner 9 please - including the fourth movement or not.

I like to leave things as they are. I've heard the completions, and they are alright, but I love the ache of incompleteness. Just as we need to grow more comfortable with boredom, silence, uncertainty - I view incompleteness in the same manner.

The sudden halt in The Art of Fugue, for example, is one of the pinnacles of art.

[AnotherSpin]

I like to leave things as they are. I've heard the completions, and they are alright, but I love the ache of incompleteness. Just as we need to grow more comfortable with boredom, silence, uncertainty - I view incompleteness in the same manner.

The sudden halt in The Art of Fugue, for example, is one of the pinnacles of art.

I think buzz and certainty can be quite boring.

[Mandryka]

I know someone who says that Bruckner's music is essentially optimistic, a celebration of life. If that's right, the incomplete 9th doesn't fit. Or do people think that the three movements are optimistic enough?

[Mandryka]

The sudden halt in The Art of Fugue, for example, is one of the pinnacles of art.

By that logic we just just play the music in the fourth movement which Bruckner completed. There's quite a lot of it I think. Does anyone do that?