Bruckner: favourite symphony cycle/boxed set

[richardfinegold]

I spent a month over the summer listening to the complete Barenboim / CSO and Solti /CSO - both fine with possibly Solti having the edge . I also listened to quite a bit of Jochum / Statskapelle. Beautifully conducted but some rather dodgy brass. The reason for this eccentric selection- they are the free offers on Amazon Prime. Like a lot of people I have a cd assemblage of Karajan, Haitink etc. Rather than a complete set. I’ve got Wand on my wishlist though.

Dodgy brass? The CSO? To omnipresent perhaps, but dodgy?

[kernelbogey]

DG or EMI?

DG - Jochum and Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.

I also have Solti/Chicago.

[richardfinegold]

I think the OP is looking for a basic complete set, not worried about the minutiae of the Editions, and appears to be interested in a single conductor (I believe the Berlin and possibly VPO have issued multi Conductor sets). I second Petrushka recommendation of Haitink, but actually I haven’t heard 0-3 from that set. A set that I do own, also available on Blu Ray as the Haitink is, but much more affordable on CD, is Karajan/Berlin from the early seventies. I think that Karajan had a real affinity for Bruckner and the playing is superb. I think this should be the basic complete set for a “beginner “ collector. I also have the the Jochum/Dresden set, and that was my only Bruckner for a decade or so, but now whenever I spin it I get vertiginous from Jochum’s frequent gear shifts.
I also have the Gunter Wand set on Sony, and there are some good recordings in there, but the Berlin PO are the Concertgebou are in a different league altogether

[Richard Barrett]

They're not murky in the latest incarnation here where an impressive clean up job has been done

That is very good to know, thanks. Being an admirer of the Staatskapelle I was very disappointed by the EMI CDs. I shall line the "new" ones up for listening later today.

Regarding Karajan's 1970s recordings, I found them very exciting when they came out, especially no.9, but I haven't heard those for a long time. I think they might well be a good choice for the Bruckner newcomer.

[makropulos]

For a complete set in decent sound, I'd go for Jochum/DG or Haitink/Philips (now Decca). But there's a good case to be made for a self-assembly Bruckner cycle too, and there are magnificent performances that are sometimes overlooked because they weren't part of a complete set (e.g. Giulini's gloriously spacious versions of 7, 8 and 9 with the Vienna Phil, Böhm's 4, 7 and 8 with the same orchestra and so on –and on). After that, the choice is pretty much endless, and a wonderful voyage of discovery.

[gurnemanz]

But there's a good case to be made for a self-assembly Bruckner cycle too, and there are magnificent performances that are sometimes overlooked because they weren't part of a complete set (e.g. Giulini's gloriously spacious versions of 7, 8 and 9 with the Vienna Phil, Böhm's 4, 7 and 8 with the same orchestra and so on –and on). After that, the choice is pretty much endless, and a wonderful voyage of discovery.

As CDs arrived I did a self-assemble and the Böhm 3/4 twofer formed part of it. Still a top favourite.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Dodgy brass? The CSO? To omnipresent perhaps, but dodgy?

No the dodgy brass refers to the Dresden Statskapelle under Jochum in the previous sentence. I see some Amazon reviewers concur. The CSO brass playing in both sets under Solti and Barenboim is absolutely magnificent !

[jayne lee wilson]

I suspect, for Brucknerians (whoever they are ) the story of Anton being pushed this way and that by well-meaning friends and colleagues, not to mention hostility from reviewers et cetera et cetera is part of this question: What is the true version of this symphony from the composer's point of view?

But to revert to topic: I mostly listen to Jochum.

Perhaps the better way to look at this now is to consider which versions were authorised by Bruckner. This is where Carragan's heroic scholarship comes in. So with No.2 for example, you have the original 1872 edition, expansively lovely, with the scherzo placed 2nd, and all the crucial references back in the first and last movements; but you also have 1877, much shorter, scherzo 3rd, and without the self-quotations. Both can be considered autograph scores. Similarly the 8th, in its 1887, 1890 or 1892 incarnations.

I now think Bruckner, who bequeathed his original scores to the Austrian National Library in Vienna, came to see at least some of his symphonies as co-existing happily in more than one version. The truly vexed question is of course the 3rd, but what you have there essentially is the remarkable, vast 1873 Original (with all the Wagner quotes) and the 1877/8 revision, later truncated further in 1889/90. But there isn't much substantial difference, certainly in the experience of listening, between 1877 and 1890.

[Joseph K]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I have Haitink's to look forward to in the post.

[EnemyoftheStoat]

I note that there is no mention of re-mastering on the box-cover illustrations and that the first customer review complains about poor sound quality.

I understand from elsewhere that these are the 2000 remastering, as in the light green box of that year, which I have.

As for "dodgy" brass, you were never going to get Chicago-type precision in 1970s Dresden (I was going to say they took fewer prisoners, ahem...) but you could argue that there was a more idiomatic blend. I may have to do a comparison of AB symphonies played by those bands.

[cloughie]

DG - Jochum and Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.

I also have Solti/Chicago.

Two very sound choices - I also have most of the Solti CSO set on individual CDs - indeed 4 and 7 were two of my very early CD purchases but I also have the VPO 7 on CD - in the days of LP it was always expensive in a 2LP box c/w Siegfried Idyll. (I settled for the more affordable Rosbaud on Turnabout).

[Richard Barrett]

Giulini's gloriously spacious versions of 7, 8 and 9 with the Vienna Phil

Indeed I keep coming back to these as my first choices for those three symphonies, although (at the risk of "Bruckneresque" repetitiveness!) I was extremely impressed with Nelsons' 7th, slightly less with his 9th, and when his 8th comes out I shall be clearing my calendar.

[Barbirollians]

I would have said Jochum DG or Tintner - although most of my favourite Bruckner records are not in a completed cycle - Solti’s late No 1, Sinopoli No 5 , HVK’s EMI 4 and 7 and Barbirolli’s live Eighth for example .

[jayne lee wilson]

Composite Cycles are a great idea, though it might take a while to put mine together....! Blomstedt in original 2 and 3, Venzago in revisions etc.....

But just one usually overlooked recommend...... Andreae (1953, VSO, Music&Arts) in No1......what an impact it has.... if you find can your way to it in any streaming or disc form, you'll never forget your encounter with that one! And it's the Sound of Old Vienna..... my word, those strings........Wiener Blut, indeed.....

OK, going a little further.... the mono remastering is excellent, and the really big moments in 5, 7 and 8 do not disappoint.... and you get to hear the 1892 8th, (the version preferred by Kna and Furtwangler)....as well....

See Gramophone, 10/2009 (RC).
"A major discovery for all discerning Brucknerians".

If you ever find the CD set, very rare now, the documentation is excellent - well beyond the call of duty.

[Petrushka]

Composite Cycles are a great idea, though it might take a while to put mine together....! Blomstedt in original 2 and 3, Venzago in revisions etc.....

But just one usually overlooked recommend...... Andreae (1953, VSO, Music&Arts) in No1......what an impact it has.... if you find can your way to it in any streaming or disc form, you'll never forget your encounter with that one! And it's the Sound of Old Vienna as well....Wiener Blut, indeed.....

I'm intrigued by your continuing advocacy of this set but it seems to be completely unavailable as a CD set otherwise I would have got it by now. Can you link to its availability anywhere or is download the only option?