Chailly's Bruckner

[Conchis]

I don't own the complete set but have had 2,4 and 7 for a while. The latter two I find particularly impressive.

BUT - the complete set has been criticised for blandness, for sound over substance (it was state of the art engineering at the time and still sounds good now). It's often recommended for Bruckner neophytes, because there is so little 'personality' in the interpretations.

On the basis of what I've heard, I'm inclined to disagree. What do owners of the complete set think?

[Petrushka]

I've not got the complete set but do have Symphonies 5 to 9 and in the main I'd agree with the 'blandness' tag. No 7, significantly not with the Concertgebouw but the Deutsches Symphony Orchestra, Berlin, has always been an impressive disc. Of the others I do like the 6th which I think suits Chailly well and it was, in fact, a live performance of the 6th with Chailly and the Concertgebouw that made the work first 'click' in my head. A live performance of the 8th with the LSO a good number of years ago just didn't cut the mustard and was best forgotten.

To be honest, it's a very, very long time since I've listened to any of them so they may be better than I think and worth another airing.

[Conchis]

I've not got the complete set but do have Symphonies 5 to 9 and in the main I'd agree with the 'blandness' tag. No 7, significantly not with the Concertgebouw but the Deutsches Symphony Orchestra, Berlin, has always been an impressive disc. Of the others I do like the 6th which I think suits Chailly well and it was, in fact, a live performance of the 6th with Chailly and the Concertgebouw that made the work first 'click' in my head. A live performance of the 8th with the LSO a good number of years ago just didn't cut the mustard and was best forgotten.

To be honest, it's a very, very long time since I've listened to any of them so they may be better than I think and worth another airing.

The ones I've heard don't make a 'big' immediate impression but they are performances you very quickly learn to live with. I listened to 4 on headphones a few weeks back and was totally taken with it: lots of detail that you don't ordinarily notice.

[Cockney Sparrow]

I've just updated the Naxos Music Library thread as the full Chailly Decca set is there (post #24) :

http://www.for3.org/forums/showthread.php?7506-Online-Naxos-music-library&p=579895#post579895