Favourite Bruckner symphony recordings?

[Beef Oven!]

I guess that my favourite Bruckner recording is Klemperer's sixth, far and away superior to any more recent version of this symphony (which deserves far more outings than it gets). However, I only have the LP version, which is marred by a side-break in the slow movement. It has been reissued opn CD but currently only appears to be available in large boxes of Klemperer recordings. It is a pity that Klemperer chose to conduct a heavily-cut version of the eigth.

From the same generatioin I also rate Bruno Walter's ninth highly.

Paul

Re: Klemperer B6

Both the EMI release and the 1961 Third Programme recording are available on Amazon for as little as just over 4 quid for the EMI incl, p&p, second hand and about six and a half Sovs for the latter (Testament).

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=klemperer+bruckner+six

[Karafan]

These are the first recordings of each work I would reach for:
00. Schaller, Philharmonie Festiva- Profil
0. Schaller, Philharmonie Festiva- Profil
1. Wand, WDR Sinfonieorchester - RCA
2. Wand, WDR Sinfonieorchester - RCA
3. Wand, NDR Sinfonieorchester - Profil
4. Wand, Berlin Philharmonic - RCA
5. Wand, DSO Berlin - Profil
6. Wand, Berlin Philharmonic - RCA
7. Wand, Berlin Philharmonic - RCA
8. Wand, Berlin Philharmonic - RCA
9. Wand, Berlin Philharmonic - RCA

I sense you might be rather a Wand-man! I am interested in others' views on Schaller, though....

[Beef Oven!]

These are the first recordings of each work I would reach for:
00. Schaller, Philharmonie Festiva- Profil
0. Schaller, Philharmonie Festiva- Profil
1. Wand, WDR Sinfonieorchester - RCA
2. Wand, WDR Sinfonieorchester - RCA
3. Wand, NDR Sinfonieorchester - Profil
4. Wand, Berlin Philharmonic - RCA
5. Wand, DSO Berlin - Profil
6. Wand, Berlin Philharmonic - RCA
7. Wand, Berlin Philharmonic - RCA
8. Wand, Berlin Philharmonic - RCA
9. Wand, Berlin Philharmonic - RCA

Magic!

[ahinton]

After the final minutes of the third movement of no. 9 I have no desire for another movement, and have never obtained a "completion"

Is there a particular reason why you feel that way about the closing measures of this movement but not of the same movement of the preceding Bruckner symphony (if indeed that is the case)?

[Beef Oven!]

Is there a particular reason why you feel that way about the closing measures of this movement but not of the same movement of the preceding Bruckner symphony (if indeed that is the case)?

I can do better than that - I finish at the end of the second movement in the symphony before the one before the ninth!

[Tony Halstead]

I'll sort-of pass on this, too. Bruckner's too great a composer to single out an individual recording of the Symphonies: I'd have about a dozen nominees for almost each one. EXCEPT, of course, my "first love" - the 1969 Karajan/BPO Ninth: the first Bruckner recording I ever owned, and still one of the very best versions (although I agree that the Live VPO recording achieves the impossible and "betters" it. There's also a video from the same period - IIRC, a performance the following evening?)

Completions? Last year I spent a few weeks with two recordings of the Finale - on its own (to get used to the structure and materials) and in context. To my surprise, it was the NAXOS recording with Johannes Wildner and the New Philharmonic Orchestra of Westphalia that I found more convincing than the Rattle/BPO. I know it's an earlier edition of the completion, and I understand Rattle includes subsequent discovered material - but I felt much closer to (my idea of) Bruckner than I did with Rattle.

The James Bond Symphony

sounds closer to Bruch than later Bruckner - but it has a lovely slow movement and is well worth hearing: Tintner's NAXOS recording is an excellent bargain. The "Nullte", for all Bruckner's own rejection of it, is a superb work - written after the First (and I prefer it to the Fourth , Barenboim and the Chicago SO is one of his best Bruckner recordings (which is saying something).

The James Bond Symphony

huh?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

huh?

"00".

[Bryn]

Haas. (Surprising for SS).

Hmm. Don't think I will bother with the broadcast in that case. Might check it out later via the iPlayer, however.

[Tony Halstead]

Aha, I see! I must be very 'visually blinkered' as I seem not to recognise zeros... when I think of J.Bond ( not that I necessarily do, all that much) I just think of '7'!

[Bryn]

Aha, I see! I must be very 'visually blinkered' as I seem not to recognise zeros... when I think of J.Bond ( not that I necessarily do, all that much) I just think of '7'!

You need to bend it, like.

[Barbirollians]

1Solti
2 Giulini VSO
3 Barbirolli
4 BPO Karajan EMI
5 Jochum Tahra
6 Klemperer
7 VPO/BOhm
8 Barbirolli Halle
9 Columbia SO/Walter

[vibratoforever]

Is there a particular reason why you feel that way about the closing measures of this movement but not of the same movement of the preceding Bruckner symphony (if indeed that is the case)?

Its quite difficult to put into words my reasons but I'll have a go.

I am not keen on "completions" in general, as evidenced by ignoring Elgar's 3rd, despite 1 and 2 being very important to me. 50 years of listening to Bruckner 9 with 3 movements has undoubtedly increased my resistance to accepting a further movement, which , without questioning the integrity of its authors, may not reflect the work Bruckner may have produced. But by far the most important reason is that I find movement 3 to be an overwhelming listening experience, with very tortuous moments, quite unlike the adagio of the 8th. The ending of the movement, with the sound slowly dissolving to nothing as in the finale of Mahler 9 will do for me, the 3 movements alone make complete sense.

[ahinton]

Its quite difficult to put into words my reasons but I'll have a go.

I am not keen on "completions" in general, as evidenced by ignoring Elgar's 3rd, despite 1 and 2 being very important to me. 50 years of listening to Bruckner 9 with 3 movements has undoubtedly increased my resistance to accepting a further movement, which , without questioning the integrity of its authors, may not reflect the work Bruckner may have produced. But by far the most important reason is that I find movement 3 to be an overwhelming listening experience, with very tortuous moments, quite unlike the adagio of the 8th. The ending of the movement, with the sound slowly dissolving to nothing as in the finale of Mahler 9 will do for me, the 3 movements alone make complete sense.

Then we must agree to disagree; about the same timeframe applies to my Bruckner listening experience but, after a few listenings to the truncated version of 9, I tended to steer clear of it because that sense of frustration is just too much. Bruckner had always intended to write a finale to that symphony and at one time it was thought that he had barely gotten any of it on paper before his death but, since those days, more and more of the movement has come to light, adding ever greater justification for completion attempts. Whilst I understand what you say about the end of the third movement and indeed agree with how it feels to you, the comparison with the close of the finale of Mahler 9 simply doesn't work for me, if for no better reason than that this really is the close of a symphony as intended by its composer whereas the end of the third movement of Bruckner 9 is a point of hard won repose on an ongoing journey - and that's how it sounded to me on each of my first listenings to it all those years ago.

Elgar 3 is an astonishing achievement and its realisation beggars belief; however, it's a very different case to Bruckner 9, in the Elgar only wrote the first page and a half of full socre and the remainder of the symphony was left in sketch form (as I'm sure you know) with few pointers as to what ideas might serve what purpose and how, where and when; whereas Bruckner wrote three movements in full and a fair amount of the final as well; the fact that the Coda is missing, almost certainly because Bruckner never got around to it, is deeply unfortunate and, of course, composing Bruckner's final Coda for him is a task so daunting as to render it nigh impossible but, with so much of the finale now known to exist in Bruckner's hand, I can well understand why various scholars have felt impelled to try their hands with this completion.

The worst of it is, of course, that, had Bruckner not allowed himself to be persuaded to revise earlier works, he'd almost certainly have finished 9 himself and then we'd not be having to have this conversation!

[mathias broucek]

Its quite difficult to put into words my reasons but I'll have a go.

I am not keen on "completions" in general, as evidenced by ignoring Elgar's 3rd, despite 1 and 2 being very important to me. 50 years of listening to Bruckner 9 with 3 movements has undoubtedly increased my resistance to accepting a further movement, which , without questioning the integrity of its authors, may not reflect the work Bruckner may have produced. But by far the most important reason is that I find movement 3 to be an overwhelming listening experience, with very tortuous moments, quite unlike the adagio of the 8th. The ending of the movement, with the sound slowly dissolving to nothing as in the finale of Mahler 9 will do for me, the 3 movements alone make complete sense.

I relate to all of the above. That's why I find it easier from an emotional perspective to to listen to the finale as a stand-alone movement

[mathias broucek]

Its quite difficult to put into words my reasons but I'll have a go.

I am not keen on "completions" in general, as evidenced by ignoring Elgar's 3rd, despite 1 and 2 being very important to me. 50 years of listening to Bruckner 9 with 3 movements has undoubtedly increased my resistance to accepting a further movement, which , without questioning the integrity of its authors, may not reflect the work Bruckner may have produced. But by far the most important reason is that I find movement 3 to be an overwhelming listening experience, with very tortuous moments, quite unlike the adagio of the 8th. The ending of the movement, with the sound slowly dissolving to nothing as in the finale of Mahler 9 will do for me, the 3 movements alone make complete sense.

I relate to all of the above. That's why I find it easier from an emotional perspective to to listen to the finale as a stand-alone movement