Bruckner's Abbey

[Roasted Swan]

What is you guys' favorite recording of Bruckner Fifth? I've recently gotten into this marvelous symphony.

Check out this famous version;



As a live performance it has appeared in various incarnations - just look for December 1986/Concertgebouw.  It was Jochum's last performance of the work and perhaps I'm wanting to 'hear' something valedictory because of that but it really is rather special.  The idea of emotional 'journies' is painfully over used but I do hear a sense where the music goes from world-weary almost painful beginings to final affirmatory grandeur.  If it sounds this good on disc in the hall it must have been utterly amazing.....

[Jo498]

For something a bit different (fast, dramatic, not much "incense") try Harnoncourt and Welser-Möst.

[ultralinear]

This one is also pretty lively:

[ultralinear]

Interesting video on the technical recording details of Karajan's DG cycle of Bruckner symphonies, from the perspective of the engineers remixing the original 8-track tapes for a new LP release:

[Baxcalibur]

What is you guys' favorite recording of Bruckner Fifth? I've recently gotten into this marvelous symphony.

Haitink with the Concertgebouworkest from 1972 and Sawallisch with the Bayerisches Staatsorchester. They both take a no-nonsense "eyes on the prize" approach and feature great playing and recorded sound. The performances of the coda are my ideal of fff brass playing.

[Cato]

What is you guys' favorite recording of Bruckner Fifth? I've recently gotten into this marvelous symphony.

[/quote]

Greetings Skogwald!

This recommendation is on target:

Check out this famous version;



As a live performance it has appeared in various incarnations - just look for December 1986/Concertgebouw.  It was Jochum's last performance of the work and perhaps I'm wanting to 'hear' something valedictory because of that but it really is rather special.  The idea of emotional 'journeys' is painfully over used but I do hear a sense where the music goes from world-weary almost painful beginnings to final affirmatory grandeur.  If it sounds this good on disc in the hall it must have been utterly amazing.....

There is also this 1964 Jochum/Concertgebouw performance, which is not to be missed:

Eugen Jochum's DGG performance from 1958 is a little different, in that he really slows down the final bars of the Finale: it could be considered an acquired taste.

[Cato]

I fixed the link above to the DGG 1958 recording:

[Daverz]

Many great recordings, but one that sticks in the mind is this:

Yup, that's a good one. 

[LKB]

What is you guys' favorite recording of Bruckner Fifth? I've recently gotten into this marvelous symphony.

Von Karajan's studio effort with the BPO on DG is one you should hear. There's a decent upload on YouTube, if you can abide an occasional commercial interruption.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aff-90loL4

I'm also a fan of Haitink's Bruckner, and he recorded a very good digital account with the VPO.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piph2qoOBNQ&t=9s

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

What is you guys' favorite recording of Bruckner Fifth? I've recently gotten into this marvelous symphony.

I have several --- in no particular order: Wand/Berliner, Karajan (DG), Celibidache (Warner), Skrowaczewski and Jochum (both DG and Warner).

[Mandryka]

Check out this famous version;



As a live performance it has appeared in various incarnations - just look for December 1986/Concertgebouw.  It was Jochum's last performance of the work and perhaps I'm wanting to 'hear' something valedictory because of that but it really is rather special.  The idea of emotional 'journies' is painfully over used but I do hear a sense where the music goes from world-weary almost painful beginings to final affirmatory grandeur.  If it sounds this good on disc in the hall it must have been utterly amazing.....

I'm listening to it now. Either you're right or you've hypnotised me into feeling the same way. Thanks!

[André]

Jochum's Dec 1986 is his best IMO and stands above most other versions, including his previous recorded efforts.

Wand's NDR (Hamburg) performance is thrilling and towering in equal measure - also the best of his various recordings.

I have a VERY soft spot for Klemperer's NPO commercial version. It leaves me mentally exhausted each time - almost panting, actually. His live NPO and WP performances are also hugely impressive, albeit in lower-fi: slightly different (quirky in places) but not better overall.

Otmar Suitner's Berlin Radio performance is an incredibly exciting, beautifully performed and recorded version. At under 70 minutes, it's also one of the fastest. It never feels rushed, simply volcanically alive in exactly the right places. Sumptuous and magnificently alive. A corker.

Another fast, exciting and superbly played/engineered version - more objective ? is Inbal's Teldec account from Stuttgart.

A stupendously imposing performance, probably the best of his Altomonte cycle is from Remy Ballot on Gramola. At over 89 minutes (on a single disc !) in superb cathedral sound. Not a first choice, but a demonstration that slow CAN be exciting.  When applied to Bruckner, it makes for a magnificent musical experience.

Among good-sounding historical performances, I must single out the exciting, biting ACO/van Beinum and Schuricht's noble, bold live WP from 1963. Despite their vintage years, they reveal the work's incredible complexity in a cohesive, exciting way.

For a single rec, Jochum's 1986 ACO is the thing.

[Roasted Swan]

I'm listening to it now. Either you're right or you've hypnotised me into feeling the same way. Thanks!

Hypnotism every time!

[Cato]

Jochum's Dec 1986 is his best IMO and stands above most other versions, including his previous recorded efforts.

Wand's NDR (Hamburg) performance is thrilling and towering in equal measure - also the best of his various recordings.

I have a VERY soft spot for Klemperer's NPO commercial version. It leaves me mentally exhausted each time - almost panting, actually. His live NPO and WP performances are also hugely impressive, albeit in lower-fi: slightly different (quirky in places) but not better overall.

Otmar Suitner's Berlin Radio performance is an incredibly exciting, beautifully performed and recorded version. At under 70 minutes, it's also one of the fastest. It never feels rushed, simply volcanically alive in exactly the right places. Sumptuous and magnificently alive. A corker.

Another fast, exciting and superbly played/engineered version - more objective ? is Inbal's Teldec account from Stuttgart.

A stupendously imposing performance, probably the best of his Altomonte cycle is from Remy Ballot on Gramola. At over 89 minutes (on a single disc !) in superb cathedral sound. Not a first choice, but a demonstration that slow CAN be exciting.  When applied to Bruckner, it makes for a magnificent musical experience.

Among good-sounding historical performances, I must single out the exciting, biting ACO/van Beinum and Schuricht's noble, bold live WP from 1963. Despite their vintage years, they reveal the work's incredible complexity in a cohesive, exciting way.

For a single rec, Jochum's 1986 ACO is the thing.

Yes, Carl Schuricht's recording of the Symphony #9 on the old Seraphim/Angel is also not to be missed!

And yes again to the 1986 Bruckner Symphony #5 performance with Eugen Jochum and the Concertgebouw Orchestra!



And it seems that I must listen to these Remy Ballot performances!   

[Mandryka]

Hypnotism every time!

The pain Jochum finds in the first movement is real enough - a revelation for me.

[Cato]

An interview with Herbert Blomstedt about Bruckner and his works:

e.g.

"...What kind of world is it that Bruckner reveals to us?

It is the world of his own imagination. This is where you find his soul. And he found this world through music, not through religion. That's why I think it's important not to perform his symphonies in a narrowly Catholic sense, with acoustic incense. As religious as he was, his faith is music.

The Trinity exists only in the background in these moments. You can also hear that in the Fifth Symphony. He believes in the fugue, in the hymn, in the symphonic way of expressing himself. He overcomes his life crises with this faith. Mahler documents his crises in his symphonies, Bruckner overcomes them. The Fifth Symphony ends with a triumph over despair...

...There is no composer who is associated with you today as much as Anton Bruckner. How did that come about?

I can tell you a story about that. I was still a student in Stockholm when the Vienna Philharmonic and Wilhelm Furtwängler gave a guest performance in 1950 or 1951. The programme included Bach's Third Brandenburg Concerto – with full strings and nine double basses! – and Bruckner's Eighth Symphony. The Bruckner was of course quite fantastic....

...Did you have to master (Bruckner's) music, or was it immediately accessible to you?

I immediately felt at home here. Maybe this has to do with my temperament. I take my time to research what I enjoy. I am less interested in things whose surface already reveals everything. I like the mysterious. At the beginning, only Bruckner's magical sound appealed to me, but when I really studied and performed his music, I came close to his greatness. The more I have understood how he works, the greater he has become for me....

See:

https://www.berliner-philharmoniker.de/en/stories/blomstedt-interview-bruckner/

A television interview with Herbert Blomstedt: Bruckner is not mentioned, but the interview may be of interest.

[Daverz]

This years US West Coast Brucknerthon will be on the SUNDAY before Labor Day:

Join us on SUNDAY, August 31, 2025 for the 27th annual San Diego County Bruckner Marathon.
PLEASE NOTE: To work around scheduling conflicts, this year's marathon is scheduled for the
Sunday (not Saturday) before Labor Day.
This year we'll play the ten numbered symphonies preceded by the Overture in G minor. As always,
the setting will be informal, with plenty of food and drinks to keep us going. We'll also have our usual
CD exchange; those unwanted CDs of yours could be someone else's treasure.
This year's line-up includes a combination of live and studio recordings performed by orchestras from
7 different countries. Highlights include Symphonies 1 through 4 played in sequence in their earliest
surviving versions and a historic live recording of Symphony 5 conducted by Eduard van Beinum.
Here are the selected recordings in the order in which they'll be played:
- Overture & Symphony 0: Chailly/RSO Berlin (Decca CD, February 1988)
- Symphony 1 (1868): Shimono/Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra (Brain Music CD, 18 May 2023)
- Symphony 2 (1872): Bosch/Aachen Symphony Orchestra (Coviello SACD, 22&24 May 2010)
- Symphony 3 (1873): Nagano/DSO Berlin (Harmonia Mundi SACD, March 2003)
- Symphony 4 (1874): López Cobos/Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (Telarc CD, 10-11 February
1990)
- Symphony 5: Van Beinum/Concertgebouw Orchestra (Tower Records Decca CD, 12 March 1959)
- Symphony 6: Mena/BBC Philharmonic Orchestra (Chandos CD, 10-11 July 2012)
- Symphony 7: Kreizberg/Vienna Symphony Orchestra (Pentatone SACD, June 2004)
- Symphony 8 (1890): Janowski/Suisse Romande Orchestra (Pentatone SACD, 2010)
- Symphony 9: Segal/SWF Symphony Orchestra (VMK Cosmus CD, 8 November 1985)

See attached PDF for details.

Brucknerthon XXVII Invite.pdf

[Cato]

This article ranks the author's choices for the Top Bruckner Symphony VI recordings!

Long-time members might recall the epic blind-listening project here at GMG to choose the best Bruckner VI recording, so I thought this article might be of interest!


Top Bruckner VI Recordings

An excerpt:

"...After a decade with only the mono Swoboda recording intermittently available, three versions in stereo arrived in quick succession, conducted by Hubert Reichert, Joseph Keilberth and Otto Klemperer. Of these, Klemperer's recording with the New Philharmonia Orchestra for EMI made the strongest impression. Here at last was a performance by a renowned Bruckner conductor enjoying polished orchestral playing and top-notch stereo sound. It was also a recording that immediately divided critical opinion. Deryck Cooke, in his review in the September 1965 issue of Gramophone, acknowledged that the Adagio was 'too easily moving to allow the full tragedy of the music to emerge' but nevertheless thought the performance 'a glorious one'. By contrast, Robert Layton described the recording as 'an almost unqualified disappointment' in his Quarterly Retrospect in November 1965, noting a lack of mystery and spontaneity in the performance..."