Unplayed CDs - confess your guilt!

[Alison]

At least we all have his Jazz Album ....

[Dave2002]

I really would love to love the music of Bruckner - don't get me wrong! But if not with Jochum, where on earth to start? Solti, Haitink, Tintner? Barenboim...(please don't say Rattle) the list goes on. I would appreciate your thoughts? as this a serious question - musically speaking. I'm a sort of Bruckner agnostic, I suppose, and am looking for faith. Thanks.

Try Walter, Wand or Tintner. Wand's set is currently quite cheap at Amazon. Karajan is also very good in number 8.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I really would love to love the music of Bruckner - don't get me wrong! But if not with Jochum, where on earth to start? Solti, Haitink, Tintner? Barenboim...(please don't say Rattle) the list goes on. I would appreciate your thoughts? as this a serious question - musically speaking. I'm a sort of Bruckner agnostic, I suppose, and am looking for faith. Thanks.

There was an entire thread on this very topic a couple of months ago, visnick, and every Bruckner enthusiast had a different "ideal way into Bruckner" suggestion!

FWiW, I suggested starting with the (unfinished) Ninth, as this was the work that was my "stepping stone" when I was a Bruckner-sceptic 20-yr-old. There was a group of half-a-dozen of us who all agreed that the only thing worth listening to by this composer was the Ninth. I don't know any recording that is "bad", and all of Karajan's are excellent and there is an superb performance on an Amazon MP3 Download conducted by Wand for a couple of quid:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bruckner-Symphony-9/dp/B001ISU3AA/ref=sr_shvl_album_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1346436769&sr=301-4

Then the gentle, lyrical Seventh. Again, all Karajan's are gorgeously powerful, and (to save the assault on your bank account) a very good performance by Wand as a download:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bruckner-Symphony-No-7/dp/B001UZAFM2/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1346436967&s=dmusic&sr=1-12

Once you've got these two under your belt, there'll be no stopping you (and, yes; that Karajan 8th is sublime)!


I might add - on that previous discussion, my suggestions were put aside in favour of others ... and the hoped-for "Damascus Moment" did not materialize! I don't think I need say more?

[visualnickmos]

Many thanks D2002. (Msg 77) Funnily enough, I had thought of Wand - quite why, I don't know, and I will have a look on Amz.

[jayne lee wilson]

I really would love to love the music of Bruckner - don't get me wrong! But if not with Jochum, where on earth to start? Solti, Haitink, Tintner? Barenboim...(please don't say Rattle) the list goes on. I would appreciate your thoughts? as this a serious question - musically speaking. I'm a sort of Bruckner agnostic, I suppose, and am looking for faith. Thanks.

Hi vis.,
A great start - much more than that - would be Haitink's compete Concertgebouw cycle on Philips (haven't checked but should be still be around) - it's direct, dramatic, very clearly shaped and texturally clean too. A more glowing, echt-Austrian, warmly sung but very powerful approach is Karajan - slightly misty mid-hall perspective but very atmospheric and idiomatic. Tintner is good, but tends to (slow) extremes of tempi sometimes (excellent in 1&2, now there's a bargain starter...)

For me it works best if the tempi of a performance seem relatable to one fairly moderate basic pulse, Haitink doesn't do this but is less inclined to crash the gears than Jochum (who is unsurpassable in the Masses, however).

(Sorry everyone, hi-jack of unplayed cds thread now over. Passion overtook me as Bruckner is no longer here to defend himself against the contemporary Hanslicks.)

[visualnickmos]

Hi fhg (msg 78)

I seem to remember you are a fan of HvK (nothing wrong with that, may I say) but what about Haitink? I like him, and there seem to be a fair number of his recordings of jolly old Bruckner floating around...?

And - thanks for your response - very much appreciated.

[visualnickmos]

Hello Jayne

You must have pretty well read my mind! I was replying to fhg as you were replying to me..... and I am right now going to investigate Haitink. Coffee sometime? In Vienna, of course!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Hi fhg (msg 78)

I seem to remember you are a fan of HvK (nothing wrong with that, may I say) but what about Haitink? I like him, and there seem to be a fair number of his recordings of jolly old Bruckner floating around...?

I think Karajan was at his very best in this sort of repertoire and I don't think anyone surpasses him in Bruckner 5, & 7-9. Haitink's recent recordings are very impressive, but I wasn't impressed with his first cycle: Jochum, Wand, Inbal, Barenboim and Tintner are much better IMO.

I'm sure Jayne would also endorse Rozhdestvensky, as it was her reccommendation that brought these grittier performances to my own attention.

And then there are his lovely Motets: Locus Iste and Ubi Caritas are amongst my favourite miniature masterpieces, to return to topic with a single bound!

EDIT: Errm - or would if the topic were Miniature Masterpieces rather than Unplayed CDs!

[jayne lee wilson]

Hello Jayne

You must have pretty well read my mind! I was replying to fhg as you were replying to me..... and I am right now going to investigate Haitink. Coffee sometime? In Vienna, of course!

Kaffee mit Schlag!

Yes fhg - Rozhdestvensky could easily be a first choice - but it's long-unavailable on CD (hard to tell if those downloads are well-sourced or sonically OK), and only the last Venezia remaster (CDVE 04368) really got the sound balance from that great barn of a Moscow studio acoustic just right.

[Barbirollians]

I understand people who struggle with Bruckner . I used to do so too but then along came Gunter Wand 's Proms 9, Barbirolli's visceral Proms 8 on BBC Legends and suddenly it all seemed much less turgid !

My nine favourites are

1 Solti
2Giulini
3 I still struggle with this work - if you forced me Barbirolli on BBC Legends
4 Karajan EMI
5 Jochum Tahra
6 Klemperer
7 Barbirolli
8 Barbirolli
9 Wand - then Rattle and Barbirolli

[MickyD]

Not knowing all the Bruckner symphonies, I got hold of the bargain Wand set and am delighted with it.

Maybe those here who are not entirely sold on the man should try listening to what I consider to be one of the most beautiful discs I have in my collection, that of Bruckner choral music recorded in Ely Cathedral by Polyphony under Stephen Layton on Hyperion.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bruckner-Mass-Motets-Polyphony/dp/B000VIFLPK/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1346483099&sr=1-1

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I understand people who struggle with Bruckner . I used to do so too but then along came Gunter Wand 's Proms 9

SEE!

[verismissimo]

SEE!

On the shoulders of giants on these boards, ferney.

[amateur51]

SEE!

[Dave2002]

Veering back on to course ... JEG set of Mozart operas, Aeolian quartet Haydn Quartets and Dorati's Haydn Symphony set.