Bruckner: favourite symphony cycle/boxed set

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

If you want a set that doesn’t involve putting all your eggs into one basket, Decca’s Vienna Philharmonic set is worth considering. One orchestra, but with a variety of conductors.

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8663230--bruckner-the-nine-symphonies

[kernelbogey]

It is a personal choice of course..... live on in ignorance, or dwell upon the fascinating, very precise documentation which is the result of years of devoted Brucknerian scholarship and editorial care....

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.

[Leinster Lass]

Good point Pulc but I think if JK has one set to broadly get to know the works and then he can sign up to a tutorial series with Jayne - the 40 Days and 40 Nights version - that’s the Fast Track one he can really start getting into the real AB!

'The Wilderness Days'?

[jayne lee wilson]

It is a personal choice of course..... live on in ignorance, or dwell upon the fascinating, very precise documentation which is the result of years of devoted Brucknerian scholarship and editorial care....

Take your time now....

https://bruckner.webs.com/versions.html

[Bert]

Frankly I can't really be bothered with all that stuff! There's only one moment where I feel strongly enough not to listen to recordings that don't conform to what I think is the optimal version, and that's the end of the first movement of no.8. Apart from that, which version a conductor chooses is, one assumes, an aspect of interpretation alongside all the other aspects, which might or might not add up to a convincing performance.

Well put

[Richard Barrett]

At the risk of stirring, which is honestly not my intention, I'm genuinely intrigued that no mention seems to have been made of versions or editions in these recommendations, which seems to be pretty much all that IS talked about when any new recording comes out.

Frankly I can't really be bothered with all that stuff! There's only one moment where I feel strongly enough not to listen to recordings that don't conform to what I think is the optimal version, and that's the end of the first movement of no.8. Apart from that, which version a conductor chooses is, one assumes, an aspect of interpretation alongside all the other aspects, which might or might not add up to a convincing performance.

[Joseph K]

At the risk of stirring, which is honestly not my intention, I'm genuinely intrigued that no mention seems to have been made of versions or editions in these recommendations, which seems to be pretty much all that IS talked about when any new recording comes out.

I'm aware about such issues; one has to start somewhere though - somewhere good preferably, and I assumed that if it was deemed relevant whatever versions/editions are used in a particular cycle then it would be mentioned.

[jayne lee wilson]

At the risk of stirring, which is honestly not my intention, I'm genuinely intrigued that no mention seems to have been made of versions or editions in these recommendations, which seems to be pretty much all that IS talked about when any new recording comes out.

This would simply take too long in the present context. I gave a summary of the various editions, way back on the Bruckner Composers' Thread which you can seek out.
It is very important of course, vital to me, and you'll find older recordings like Andreae or Kna using such as the (excellent, now usually ignored) 1892 8th, or newer ones using much more recent Carragan Editions of various symphonies (e.g. Venzago 2nd, Tintner 2nd), but these are usually specified in notes etc.

With 2 and 3 especially, you really do need to know which edition it is - the differences are extensive and very audible!

[Bryn]

At the risk of stirring, which is honestly not my intention, I'm genuinely intrigued that no mention seems to have been made of versions or editions in these recommendations, which seems to be pretty much all that IS talked about when any new recording comes out.

In the case of Schaller, the question is answered implicitly, as it is with Venzago or Tintner et al. These are conductors who paid a great deal of attention to which edition they were using, mainly opting for the earliest authenticable version of each symphony.

[cloughie]

At the risk of stirring, which is honestly not my intention, I'm genuinely intrigued that no mention seems to have been made of versions or editions in these recommendations, which seems to be pretty much all that IS talked about when any new recording comes out.

Good point Pulc but I think if JK has one set to broadly get to know the works and then he can sign up to a tutorial series with Jayne - the 40 Days and 40 Nights version - that’s the Fast Track one he can really start getting into the real AB!

[Petrushka]

At the risk of stirring, which is honestly not my intention, I'm genuinely intrigued that no mention seems to have been made of versions or editions in these recommendations, which seems to be pretty much all that IS talked about when any new recording comes out.

In most, nearly all, of the standard recommendations you will find that either Haas or Nowak editions are used with there not being a great deal of difference between them and JosephK is seeking such a set. Talk of various editions at this point would muddy the waters.

[Pulcinella]

At the risk of stirring, which is honestly not my intention, I'm genuinely intrigued that no mention seems to have been made of versions or editions in these recommendations, which seems to be pretty much all that IS talked about when any new recording comes out.

[Bryn]

I feel bound to say go "off-piste", back to one of the earlier fountainheads: get the older pastoral post-Schubertian Bruckner inside you before any grander assumptions. The lyrical volatility and drama of these readings will give you a better perspective on say, Wand (steady-state Bruckner, often too inflexible despite grandeur of sound in Berlin). Or Jochum (devoted as he was, wonderful in the Masses and Choral works, never quite got those symphonic gear changes figured out: too stiff and awkward, no rubato, episodic, often simply too fast). "Stop-Go" Bruckner, as others have commented before me....

So the very first complete cycle, by Volkmar Andreae in 1953, is my prime recommendation (despite a somewhat untidily played 9th). Venzago (CPO) does something similar in better modern sound, but his 5th doesn't really work out.....
Venzago's 1-7 are among the finest and most original out there, risky, daring and made new, freshly read....the moods shifting with each bend in the musical road.... a time machine from the present to the timeless Brucknerian past....

https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/bruckner-9-symphonien-wiener-symphoniker-volkmar-andreae/0017685122729

https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/search?q...ner&i=boutique

But what about the Venzago 8th and first three movements of the 9th? Seeing described somewhere () as the worst 8th ever recorded. Given the provenance of that opinion, I just had to listen, and though something of a 'curates egg', its good parts are very good indeed.

[Richard Barrett]

I think Nelsons and the Gewandhausorchester is going to be my favourite, although it isn't yet finished.

[jayne lee wilson]

I was thinking of suggestions as what set to purchase (which would only be one, given the prices of these things...) but I'll certainly check out Andreae and others via youtube. I'll probably end up buying the Haitink, cos I like his Beethoven cycle...

That early Amsterdam Haitink is still among my favourites: again, fresh, relatively swift and to the point, not obsessed with grandeur of sound, focussed on symphony clarity. Lacks flexibility to some extent, but has an ear for the Pastoral in Bruckner (birdsong etc)....and recently remastered to great effect.

Part of the point about Andreae is that it connects you to the sound of "Old Vienna", giving you insights you can't get anywhere else. As does Knappertsbusch, but that's a whole other ballgame.....
Venzago adumbrates that tradition, almost miraculously.....