Bruckner - Symphony No. 8

[P. G. Tipps]

As an aside for forum Brucknerians there is a live video broadcast this evening from the Berlin Phil Digital Concert Hall 18.00 (UK time) of the Seventh by the BPO/Thielemann, preceded by Beethoven's PC No 1, Rudolf Buchbinder.

Thielemann conducted a superb Mass No 3 last Saturday.

Unmissable!

[ahinton]

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.

Many thanks for the link to that which I think is a whisker or two shorter than the Barbican one but still very expansive compared to most - and yes, the orchestra is pretty good! I've yet to figure out why this works, but work it undoubtedly does - expansive yet never distended, I think.

[Beef Oven!]

As an aside for forum Brucknerians there is a live video broadcast this evening from the Berlin Phil Digital Concert Hall 18.00 (UK time) of the Seventh by the BPO/Thielemann, preceded by Beethoven's PC No 1, Rudolf Buchbinder.

Thielemann conducted a superb Mass No 3 last Saturday.

Unmissable!

One day I think Thielemann is an amazing Bruckner conductor, another I’m not sure. Strange.

[P. G. Tipps]

One day I think Thielemann is an amazing Bruckner conductor, another I’m not sure. Strange.

He was 'amazing' this evening, Beefy ... simply super stuff.

I think I know what you mean, though, as I've had my little doubts about Thielemann as well, but the Bruckner 7 tonight was vastly more convincing than some of his earlier efforts I've come across.

All in imvho, of course!

[Beef Oven!]

He was 'amazing' this evening, Beefy ... simply super stuff.

I think I know what you mean, though, as I've had my little doubts about Thielemann as well, but the Bruckner 7 tonight was vastly more convincing than some of his earlier efforts I've come across.

All in imvho, of course!

Haven’t heard CT in #7. Glad you enjoyed it Scotty. I think he does some Furty-things with some of the tempi. I’d need to focus more on that and maybe it will shed some light on my erratic enjoyment.

Thanks very much for the earlier Skrowaczewski Saarbrucken Symphony Orchestra link. I listened to it earlier and really enjoyed it. There was a discussion on the forum about SS last year, but I did not pursue the lead - my (big) loss - not subsequently getting to the concerts he did in London. I bought the CD cycle, though.

Currently having a late night/early morning listen to a YouTube vid of B8 with Celibidache, MPO live in Tokyo 1990. I’m only half way through the first movement, but it’s at least as good as the Skrowaczewski. We are indeed blessed with excellent performances of B8.

[Beef Oven!]

Update: I just picked up on this from the YouTube comments on the B8 Celibidache video - RIP Peter Sadlo. A sad loss at no age (54) in July this year.

If you fast forward to 26.15 on the video in post #148, you can see and hear him in action.

[BBMmk2]

I would like to arrange the Scherzo - allegro moderato for concert band.

[mathias broucek]

Currently having a late night/early morning listen to a YouTube vid of B8 with Celibidache, MPO live in Tokyo 1990. I’m only half way through the first movement, but it’s at least as good as the Skrowaczewski. We are indeed blessed with excellent performances of B8]

Available on CD in fabulous sound from Altus (or on DVD from Sony)

[Beef Oven!]

There's been a fair amount of very interesting general discussion about Bruckner's eighth symphony over the past few days, but it's taken place mainly on a thread specific to Sir Simon's LSO Barbican concert. So I searched for a Bruckner 8 thread and was surprised to find that there isn't one! So here goes!

I've never been bothered about the various performing versions and to a large degree, I'm still not. I prefer to focus on the end result, the music; choosing to judge the symphony, the recordings, the concert performance etc, wholly or mainly on what I hear.

However, that is I admit, a bit lazy and it's certainly not the whole story.

Anyway, earlier today I went on to the website 'abruckner.com' which as you might expect is a wealth of information on the man. I checked the discography section as I wanted to see which conductors use which editions and I saw a name I'd seen often enough, but had never pursued - Takashi Asahina (1908-2001). I decided to take the plunge and get his recording of the eighth. I must say that I was surprised to hear what a very good performance it is. And it was quite cheap as a 16 Bit CD quality download from Qobuz for £7.99. A live recording with the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra. The sound quality is in my opinion, absolutely top-drawer.

Asahina uses the Haas version and delivers music that is so powerful and dramatic yet subtle and elegant. I can't help feeling that t's not a coincidence that the best performances are so often the Haas versions (but obviously not always).

I could find no reviews of this or any other of his recordings (in terms of Bruckner there's a fair few including 4, 5, 7, 8 & 9), not even in Gramophone, Musicweb or Classics Today (in fact their search mechanisms don't appear to recognise the name!).

He was clearly a top musician and I would urge people to hear this Bruckner 8.

Last thing, I really like this excerpt from his obituary in the Independent:

"I first saw him conduct the Alpine Symphony of Strauss in 1991, having never heard of him and having no idea what he was like. I went out of respect for my hosts (I was a judge in a conducting competition), and when I saw this elderly man walking out to the podium my expectations were low. The performance was, from the outset, remarkable, and within five minutes I was convinced that I was watching (and hearing) a major conductor. Though the tempi were slow, he managed to get his orchestra to sustain the line over long phrases. Bar lines disappeared – he conducted in paragraphs, not sentences. His sonority was built from the bottom up, founded on the basses and cellos, and also built around a rich string sound. Although the music had force and power, it was never angular, never overly aggressive. It always had beauty, an inner beauty and even spirituality."

Finding this one of the better 8s

[Madame Suggia]

Rather wonderful Bruckner from Lovro von Matačić

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ3PRXgLs9U

[jayne lee wilson]

Finding this one of the better 8s

Re. Asahina don't forget the earlier discussion....from #47 et seq....there are two complete Asahina Bruckner Cycles, a later unfinished one, and many individual live recordings....

http://www.for3.org/forums/showthread.php?15052-Bruckner-Symphony-No-8/page5&highlight=asahina

[Beef Oven!]

Thanks Jayne - a great reminder!

And thanks for the information first time around in post #47

[Richard Barrett]

Today I've been listening to Giulini's VPO Bruckner 8 and 9... and quite honestly I don't really know why I've allowed myself to be distracted from these recorded performances by others which simply don't measure up to them. I will of course keep trying to find something else that is anywhere near this level, but so far I haven't. This is Bruckner's music as far as I'm concerned. Say what you will.

[HighlandDougie]

Today I've been listening to Giulini's VPO Bruckner 8 and 9... and quite honestly I don't really know why I've allowed myself to be distracted from these recorded performances by others which simply don't measure up to them. I will of course keep trying to find something else that is anywhere near this level, but so far I haven't. This is Bruckner's music as far as I'm concerned. Say what you will.

This Giulini 8th is possibly even finer (magisterial!):

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bruckner-Symphony-No-8-Various/dp/B002QFEE3Q

[BBMmk2]

Today I've been listening to Giulini's VPO Bruckner 8 and 9... and quite honestly I don't really know why I've allowed myself to be distracted from these recorded performances by others which simply don't measure up to them. I will of course keep trying to find something else that is anywhere near this level, but so far I haven't. This is Bruckner's music as far as I'm concerned. Say what you will.

Goodness! That’s quite a sweeping statement! I will see if it’s music streamed

I see there looks like a rather interesting box set called Giulini in Vienna