Bruckner: favourite symphony cycle/boxed set

[HighlandDougie]

Could my famed site navigation skills, but how can you tell who is playing what, and when?

1 Ozawa 2009; 2 Järvi 2019; 3 Blomstedt 2017; 4 Haitink 2014; 5 Haitink 2011; 6 Jansons 2018; 7 Thielemann 2016; 8 Mehta 2012; 9 Rattle 2018

One downside of the 7 Digital cheap-as-chips downloads is that you don’t get the notes etc (or not so that I could find) but they are a lot cheaper than buying them from the BPO site. And there is the estimable Berlin Philharmonic Digital Concert Archive if you want exact dates of the performances.

[Bryn]

1 Ozawa 2009; 2 Järvi 2019; 3 Blomstedt 2017; 4 Haitink 2014; 5 Haitink 2011; 6 Jansons 2018; 7 Thielemann 2016; 8 Mehta 2012; 9 Rattle 2018

One downside of the 7 Digital cheap-as-chips downloads is that you don’t get the notes etc (or not so that I could find) but they are a lot cheaper than buying them from the BPO site. And there is the estimable Berlin Philharmonic Digital Concert Archive if you want exact dates of the performances.

If one has a QOBUZ streaming account, the booklet pdf is freely downloadable without downloading the recording (the QOBUZ download prices is much higher than those at 7 Digital). The QOBUZ search engine is very flaky. Try https://play.qobuz.com/album/vebn5cjaxfhic and click on the open book icon, once logged in.

A word of warning re the 7 Digital 48/24 zip download. Do not try downloading to FAT 32 formatted drive. The zip occupies 5.5GB, over the FAT 32 limit of 4GB.

[Ein Heldenleben]

If one has a QOBUZ streaming account, the booklet pdf is freely downloadable without downloading the recording (the QOBUZ download prices is much higher than those at 7 Digital). The QOBUZ search engine is very flaky. Try https://play.qobuz.com/album/vebn5cjaxfhic and click on the open book icon, once logged in.

A word of warning re the 7 Digital 48/34 zip download. Do not try downloading to FAT 32 formatted drive. The zip occupies 5.5GB, over the FAT 32 limit of 4GB.

Thanks you’ve answered the file size question I was about to post - presumably no problem storing on a LaCie drive formatted for Mac ?
You are right about the Qubuz search engine . It makes a difference putting in VPO, Vienna Philharmonic, Weiner Philharmoniker. I’ve even put exactly the same search words in the app and in the browser and come up with different results. For some reason Christian Thielmann often comes up what ever I put in making me wonder whether there’s a bit of disguised sponsorship going on ...

[Bryn]

Thanks you’ve answered the file size question I was about to post - presumably no problem storing on a LaCie drive formatted for Mac ?
You are right about the Qubuz search engine . It makes a difference putting in VPO, Vienna Philharmonic, Weiner Philharmoniker. I’ve even put exactly the same search words in the app and in the browser and come up with different results. For some reason Christian Thielmann often comes up what ever I put in making me wonder whether there’s a bit of disguised sponsorship going on ...

Sorry, I know nothing about Mac formats. On Windows, one needs an NTFS or ex-FAT formatted drive. Try https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_h30HBYxtws for info.

[HighlandDougie]

Thanks you’ve answered the file size question I was about to post - presumably no problem storing on a LaCie drive formatted for Mac ?
You are right about the Qubuz search engine . It makes a difference putting in VPO, Vienna Philharmonic, Weiner Philharmoniker. I’ve even put exactly the same search words in the app and in the browser and come up with different results. For some reason Christian Thielmann often comes up what ever I put in making me wonder whether there’s a bit of disguised sponsorship going on ...

I downloaded the files onto my MacBook Pro without any problem. Macs use APFS - neither of the standard Windows formats (NTFS or ex-FAT) are recommended for Mac OS, unless you have partitioned your disk to run Mac OS and Windows. In the case of the latter, NTFS in my limited experience was less problematic than FAT. Anyway, the files are backed up on a LaCie external disk - and are also stored on the Aurender N100. Even more O/T, I noticed that 7 Digital is offering a newish release of Abbado and the BPO's performance of the Mahler 10 Adagio from the Mahler centenary concert in 2011. Alas, no Das Lied von der Erde yet from the same concert but £1.19 for the hi-res FLAC doesn't seem a lot to pay. See:

https://uk.7digital.com/yourmusic/artist/berliner-philharmoniker-and-claudio-abbado/release/mahler-symphony-no-10-14797499/14797499

[Bryn]

Can anyone with the latest Warner incarnation of the Jochum Dresden cycle give me any remastering details please? I keep seeing people referred to the 'newly-remastered sound' or what an improvement the new box is over its predecessor incarnations, but nowhere on the packaging as seen online can I see any reference to the cycle having been remastered. Warner don't usually hide their light under a bushel and blare loudly about a set being 'remastered from the original tapes' etc...

I cannot help directly, except to note that Warner say nothing about remastering in their promotion of the most recent manifestation. However, the Jochum Icon set, issued 2012, does offer remastering dates as follows:

1. 2000
2. 2000
3. 1995
4. 2000
5. 1990
6. 1998
7. 1995
8. 2000
9. 2000

[cloughie]

I cannot help directly, except to note that Warner say nothing about remastering in their promotion of the most recent manifestation. However, the Jochum Icon set, issued 2012, does offer remastering dates as follows:

1. 2000
2. 2000
3. 1995
4. 2000
5. 1990
6. 1998
7. 1995
8. 2000
9. 2000

Purely guesswork but the first EMI boxed set was 1990 so the remastered dates above probably show the latest remasterings which were probably done for the EMI forte reissues in the 90s. It would appear that there were, in addition to the ICON set of 2012, there are Warner reissued sets in 2013 and 2020.

[Bryn]

Purely guesswork but the first EMI boxed set was 1990 so the remastered dates above probably show the latest remasterings which were probably done for the EMI forte reissues in the 90s. It would appear that there were, in addition to the ICON set of 2012, there are Warner reissued sets in 2013 and 2020.

I will have to dig out and check my EMI boxed set. The Icon box arrived today. As an aside, the marketplace listing on amazon.co.uk read "Condition: Used - Like New - CDS RATTLE IN SEALED BOX", the extended description being true but amusingly irrelevant (definitely Jochum, not Rattle ). A bargain at £27.25 including p&p.

[Bryn]

If one has a QOBUZ streaming account, the booklet pdf is freely downloadable without downloading the recording (the QOBUZ download prices is much higher than those at 7 Digital). The QOBUZ search engine is very flaky. Try https://play.qobuz.com/album/vebn5cjaxfhic and click on the open book icon, once logged in.

A word of warning re the 7 Digital 48/24 zip download. Do not try downloading to FAT 32 formatted drive. The zip occupies 5.5GB, over the FAT 32 limit of 4GB.

The booklet pdf, by the way, has nothing to say regarding editions used, only 'versions', i.e. the year in which the relevant version was first performed. The one exception is the completion of the final movement of the 9th, for which pretty full information is offered.

[Bryn]

I cannot help directly, except to note that Warner say nothing about remastering in their promotion of the most recent manifestation. However, the Jochum Icon set, issued 2012, does offer remastering dates as follows:

1. 2000
2. 2000
3. 1995
4. 2000
5. 1990
6. 1998
7. 1995
8. 2000
9. 2000

The published 1990 compilation, copyright 2000, EMI Bruckner /Jochum set I have varies in cited remastering only with regard to the 5th, where it claims 1998. Whether that or the Icon booklet's date is a misprint or not, I have no idea. Could it really be that when it came to issuing the Icon box in 2012 Warner decided an earlier remastering was better?

[LeMartinPecheur]

I will have to dig out and check my EMI boxed set. The Icon box arrived today. As an aside, the marketplace listing on amazon.co.uk read "Condition: Used - Like New - CDS RATTLE IN SEALED BOX", the extended description being true but amusingly irrelevant (definitely Jochum, not Rattle ). A bargain at £27.25 including p&p.

Perhaps the CDs did rattle in their sealed box

[Bryn]

Perhaps the CDs did rattle in their sealed box

As I said, "the extended description being true but amusingly irrelevant . . . ". My guess is that the vendor was not used to the sonic properties of classical boxed sets of CDs in card sleeves when shaken, not stirred.

[Loathecliff]

1 Ozawa 2009; 2 Järvi 2019; 3 Blomstedt 2017; 4 Haitink 2014; 5 Haitink 2011; 6 Jansons 2018; 7 Thielemann 2016; 8 Mehta 2012; 9 Rattle 2018

One downside of the 7 Digital cheap-as-chips downloads is that you don’t get the notes etc (or not so that I could find) but they are a lot cheaper than buying them from the BPO site. And there is the estimable Berlin Philharmonic Digital Concert Archive if you want exact dates of the performances.

Thxs HD.
.............
Taking break from no.6 yesterday I realised it had been 25 years + since I last heard no.4.
I came across the Chailly cycle. I'd never listened to it. No mention of it on this thread AFAIK.
His RCO no.4 I thought a delight; excellent recording too. Unlike YNS, (he was dismissed during the first mvmt), Chailly maintains the vital 'pulse' throughout.
Any thoughts on the rest of his (two orchestra) set?

[Ein Heldenleben]

Thxs HD.
.............
Taking break from no.6 yesterday I realised it had been 25 years + since I last heard no.4.
I came across the Chailly cycle. I'd never listened to it. No mention of it on this thread AFAIK.
His RCO no.4 I thought a delight; excellent recording too. Unlike YNS, (he was dismissed during the first mvmt), Chailly maintains the vital 'pulse' throughout.
Any thoughts on the rest of his (two orchestra) set?

I’ve heard Chailly in 1 , 5 and 7 - all absolutely superb . Well played and very well recorded . I was directed to these recordings by the Penguin Guide 1996 ( see Debussy etudes thread for the full story ) - he is surprisingly the top pick or near top in a few of the Bruckner’s.
Chailly’s 5 is particularly good with , in my view the final movement overwhelming- this is with the Concertgebouw . What a band they are...

[BillMatters]

Hans-Hubert Schönzeler’s BRUCKNER published 1970, pp 190 was my first book on AB. It has some photos of manuscripts, but no musical analysis to speak of.