Bruckner - Symphony No. 8

[Petrushka]

Revisiting this thread, and having steadily listened to B8 over the months, despite a Brahms distraction mid-year, I would hi-lite:

Wand - NDR Lübeck Cathedral (live) 1890 Haas. RCA Red Seal (Japan Import)

Sinopoli - Staatskapelle Dresden 1890 Novak. Deutsche Grammophon

Karajan - VPO 1890 Haas. Deutsche Grammophon

In that order.

Next I will revisit my various Bohm recordings and Furtwangler’s October 17th 1944 VPO.

All of the recordings you highlight are very fine. The Sinopoli is, I think, the best recording of his that I've heard and accorded thrilling sound with a big timpani contribution, so important in this of all symphonies. The Strauss Metamorphosen coupling is a great pairing and equally fine.

[MickyD]

Revisiting this thread, and having steadily listened to B8 over the months, despite a Brahms distraction mid-year, I would hi-lite:

Wand - NDR Lübeck Cathedral (live) 1890 Haas. RCA Red Seal (Japan Import)

Sinopoli - Staatskapelle Dresden 1890 Novak. Deutsche Grammophon

Karajan - VPO 1890 Haas. Deutsche Grammophon

In that order.

Next I will revisit my various Bohm recordings and Furtwangler’s October 17th 1944 VPO.

Thanks for the tip, Beefy...I have been wanting that Wand Lubeck recording for a long time...apparently on that Japanese import, it now comes with Symphony 9 as well. Just ordered on Amazon.

[Darkbloom]

Thanks for the tip, Beefy...I have been wanting that Wand Lubeck recording for a long time...apparently on that Japanese import, it now comes with Symphony 9 as well. Just ordered on Amazon.

I keep meaning to get around to that one. The Wand version I have is the BPO version. It's OK but he sounds a bit inhibited, rather like the other recordings he made with them that I have heard. Not at all bad, but you never feel all that involved in what is going on. Nothing like the fiery recordings he made in Cologne. Maybe he'd just got a bit too old by then and his interpretations had become hardened by too much repetition.

[Beef Oven!]

Petrushka - Thanks, good reminder on the excellent Metamorphosen coupling (as good as HvK’s?). And egg wetter gree about the timpani/sound quality. Btw, IIRC, this CD is an on-demand issue.

MickyD - B9 is indeed included on this Watford Gap issue. Excellent sound quality and value for money - glad you got around to getting it

Darkbloom - Interesting perspective on the Cologne performances, and I agree with your observations. The later BPO are IMVHO not inhibited, but possibly more reflective. Perhaps more knowing than undemonstrative.

[P. G. Tipps]

In recent years I've been more inclined to search for good quality video recordings of live concerts on YouTube than buy older stuff featuring the more celebrated Bruckner conductors.

One of my more cherished recent finds is the following:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIV0M6oL9Qo

Segerstam and the BBCSO performed the work in London early last year and the conductor was greeted with some boos at the finish, no doubt provoked by the extremely slow pace, whilst others in the audience gave him a rousing reception.

Not sure if this performance is quite as slow generally and, albeit a sparsely-filled hall, it seemed to go down well with the punters. The scherzo certainly seems much brisker than before which was certainly a relief to my ears. Well worth a watch and listen, imv!

And who could possibly resist seeing Santa Claus conducting a Bruckner symphony at this time of year ... ?

[MickyD]

I think the fastest version of the Scherzo from the 8th that I have ever heard is on a CD I bought many moons ago from Carlos Paita and the curiously named 'Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra' - it's too fast for me!

[mathias broucek]

Revisiting this thread, and having steadily listened to B8 over the months, despite a Brahms distraction mid-year, I would hi-lite:

Wand - NDR Lübeck Cathedral (live) 1890 Haas. RCA Red Seal (Japan Import)

Sinopoli - Staatskapelle Dresden 1890 Novak. Deutsche Grammophon

Karajan - VPO 1890 Haas. Deutsche Grammophon

In that order.

Next I will revisit my various Bohm recordings and Furtwangler’s October 17th 1944 VPO.

All outstanding choices.

As pointed about above the Wand Lubeck now comes with an (even better) 9th....

The Sinopoli is a thing of wonder and has divided fiddles. If he'd used Haas rather than Novak it would be my favourite (of too, too many) B8s....

The Bohm / BRSO (Audite) recording has a VERY shaky start to the finale - it's nothing like as good as the 7th from the same source

And as for Furty... I once played a game with some friends that involved picking a random CD. The 1944 Furtwangler 8th came up and we listened to the slow movement - the friends were stunned!

[Alison]

I see there is a full length Segerstam performance on YouTube with a Galician orchestra, better than expected.

I'd love to see the Barbican performance come out on BBCMM. The long performance might not help the cause I suppose.

[Petrushka]

Furtwangler's 1944 VPO performance needs to be considered in a category of its own. I have it in both a Music & Arts transfer and also one by DG, having previously had it on a Unicorn LP pressing. The slightly acid sound quality is something to which one quickly becomes accustomed and it does, if anything, aid WF's conception of the whole work, especially at the first movement climax where the trumpets bay into the abyss as in no other recording I've ever heard. One can never forget, for a single movement in the course of this performance, the time and place of the recording. The scherzo is quick, WF doesn't hang about, as Karajan preferred to do. As MB mentions above, the Adagio leaves you stunned. It is played as a great lament for the destruction of German culture that must have seemed to WF, as indeed it must have done to Strauss in Metamorphosen, that it would never rise again.

Although frequently billed as a live performance, my understanding is that it was recorded in the Musikverein, Vienna, on October 17 1944 for radio transmission only but set down as if at a concert. Perhaps anyone more knowledgeable about the circumstances surrounding this astonishing performance might like to add further.

[P. G. Tipps]

Continuing the theme of YouTube 'gems' there is a wonderful 2003 Tokyo video recording of Bruckner 8 with Skrowaczewski and the Saarbrucken.

The applause at the finish is incredible, the conductor being called back several times, and it seemed this might continue long after the video ends.

A heartwarming and thoroughly deserved ovation for one of the most self-effacing yet truly great Bruckner conductors of our times, who simply lives and breathes this music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjeL9hKOhcE

[Barbirollians]

I just cannot watch concerts on DVD - I much prefer CD though in opera it is the other way round so long as it is not an intrusive production .

The idea of sitting down in front of a long Bruckner symphony with a director or HVK telling you what instrument to concentrate on would bore me to tears no matter how fine the playing .

I found those Lubeck recordings rather a disappointment and prefer his BPO traversals probably due to the sound .

[BBMmk2]

Hi Barbs, I am like that with opera too. CDs rather than DVDs. It's always the production that puts me off.

[Alison]

As a matter of interest how fast do you like the second movement of Bruckner 8? Any ideal recordings in this respect?

Off hand I can't recall what the score says.

[Petrushka]

As a matter of interest how fast do you like the second movement of Bruckner 8? Any ideal recordings in this respect?

Off hand I can't recall what the score says.

The marking is Allegro Moderato which leaves a tolerably wide number of options available. Karajan is close to this marking though I do like a touch more allegro than moderato.

[BBMmk2]

The marking is Allegro Moderato which leaves a tolerably wide number of options available. Karajan is close to this marking though I do like a touch more allegro than moderato.

Gunter Wand and the NDR SO?