Segerstam/Bruckner 8 - Barbican, 28.2.15

[Bryn]

Bruckner's 8th (thankfully without the bits added by Haas) took 103' 14" from first murmur of the strings to the shout at the end.

[Petrushka]

The last thing you need to be aware of when listening to a Bruckner symphony is time. I remember reading somewhere that if you look at your watch when listening to Bruckner you've already lost the battle.

Tonight time seemed to stand still and seemed progressively irrelevant. A magnificent triumph for the BBCSO who haven't played Bruckner so well since the days of Günter Wand.

[gurnemanz]

Bruckner's 8th (thankfully without the bits added by Haas) took 103' 14" from first murmur of the strings to the shout at the end.

First time I heard this mighty work live was standing at the Proms. (LA Phil + Zubin Mehta early 70s). Some around us weakened and sat on the floor but we stood to the end.

[Bryn]

First time I heard this mighty work live was standing at the Proms. (LA Phil + Zubin Mehta early 70s). Some around us weakened and sat on the floor but we stood to the end.

As I did through The Trojans (in English) under Colin Davis in the late '60s, and Messiaen's Saint François d'Assise under Metzmacher somewhat more recently.

[vibratoforever]

Clearly too much for iplayer, when listening tonight the recording stops many minutes short of the end of the piece so no chance to hear the boos.

A dire performance. A conductor like Wand steered his way through the slow episodes and "pauses" brilliantly, here there were not so much pauses as overnight stops. 16 minutes into the first movement and 24 into the last movement being typical. I would not have booed but I probably might have wanted too.

[Bryn]

Clearly too much for iplayer, when listening tonight the recording stops many minutes short of the end of the piece so no chance to hear the boos.

A dire performance. A conductor like Wand steered his way through the slow episodes and "pauses" brilliantly, here there were not so much pauses as overnight stops. 16 minutes into the first movement and 24 into the last movement being typical. I would not have booed but I probably might have wanted too.

Bit late to the table there, wobbly one. See #9.

By the way, there is an overlap, so an edit is easily done.

[Nick Armstrong]

Bruckner rage

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Sorry to repeat but it had to be done and it's one of the best photos I've seen recently!!

[Beef Oven!]

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Sorry to repeat but it had to be done and it's one of the best photos I've seen recently!!

[makropulos]

Yikes. Not for me, I'm afraid, though there was some excellent playing.

The slowness was reminiscent of Celibidache in his last years, though I think Segerstam may have been even more stately, and wasn't not as musically interesting, at least not to my ears.
Petroc T said Bychkov was originally scheduled to conduct this concert and I very much wish he had. Still, each to their own.

[P. G. Tipps]

I thought I could handle Bruckner at any pace but this was desperately slow, almost making Maestro Celibidache's accounts seem like prize greyhounds in comparison.

There were several sublime moments, though, not least when the entire universe seems to stop before the start of the ascent to the great climax in the Adagio ... and not a cough to be heard at this usual point of entry for the serial splutterers.

Great to hear a Bruckner performance causing such passionate divisions within a modern audience, though ... some things never really change!

[Nick Armstrong]

A photo for the launch of Segerstam Grooming Products for Men, perhaps?

[Beef Oven!]

A photo for the launch of Segerstam Grooming Products for Men, perhaps?

You don't have to involve yourself in marketing in your job, do you?

[vibratoforever]

Bit late to the table there, wobbly one. See #9.

By the way, there is an overlap, so an edit is easily done.

A typical too clever by half comment from one of the regulars on here. I comment on performances and have no interest in self-aggrandizement, unlike yourself, pointing out you had noticed the iplayer issue before me.

When I started listening to the 98 minutes on iplayer your comment had not even been posted.

Given the massively negative opinion of performance that I expressed why would I be bothered editing?

[Bryn]

A typical too clever by half comment from one of the regulars on here. I comment on performances and have no interest in self-aggrandizement, unlike yourself, pointing out you had noticed the iplayer issue before me.

When I started listening to the 98 minutes on iplayer your comment had not even been posted.

Given the massively negative opinion of performance that I expressed why would I be bothered editing?

Last edited by vibratoforever; Today at 03:57.

Hmm. So why did you, an hour after posting? Self deprecation?

It would have been simple courtesy for you to scan through the few messages already posted in this thread before jumping in, don't you think?

As I pointed out, the end of the 8th was, and as of 06:30 on St. David's day still is, delivered at the start of Between the Ears (the programme which followed Live in Concert). The late running of the Bruckner also lead to Hear and Now being truncated on the Listen Again facility of the iPlayer. As in the earlier case, the end of Abrahamsen's Ten Sinfonias can be found at the start of the also truncated Charlie Parker fest. ... Hopefully all the programmes hit by the stretched out Bruckner will be re-posted on iPlayer in complete versions over the next few hours or days.

[BBMmk2]

Doing Bruckner? Sounds impossible!!?!?!?!?