Anton Bruckner 8 Symphony

Following his CPO recording with the Tapiola Sinfonietta of Anton Bruckner's Symphony in D minor, "Die Nullte," and the Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Mario Venzago presents the Symphony No. 2 in C minor, this time with the Northern Sinfonia. Unlike some contemporary conductors who favor the original 1872 version of this symphony, Venzago performs the more familiar 1877 version, edited by William Carragan. This is the first of Bruckner's symphonies where he expanded the form to an hour duration, and the fertile ideas it contains are appropriate to the greater time frame. Yet this work has never been accepted by audiences in the way most of the later symphonies have, such as the Fourth, Seventh, and Ninth, and the music falters over too many starts and stops, indecisive development, and repetitions. Even so, there is much attractive material here, and Venzago brings it off with a light touch, having the orchestra play delicately and sweetly, almost as if this were a Mendelssohn symphony.

Anton Bruckner - Symphony No. 8 WAB 108 (Version 1890) in C minor
Beethoven Orchester Bonn / Stefan Blunier
2xSACD | EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 331 MB | Full Artwork: 98 MB | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: MDG "Live" # 937 1713-6 | Country/Year: Germany 2011
Genre: Classical | Style: Romantic, Orchestral

"Even though Stefan Blunier's 2011 recording of Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 8 in C minor is a lot to digest, timed at over 88 minutes and stretched almost to the breaking point, this is a deeply compelling performance and an impressive recording that deserves all the time listeners devote to it. (…) MDG's natural, unprocessed sound is a great aid to capturing the orchestra's subtle dynamics, and the live recording has very few extraneous sounds. Highly recommended." ~AMG

Anton Bruckner - Symphony No. 8 WAB 108 (Version 1890) in C minor
Beethoven Orchester Bonn / Stefan Blunier
2xSACD | SACD ISO (2.0/MCH): 4,62 GB | 24B/88,2kHz Stereo FLAC: 1,34 | Full Artwork
Label/Cat#: MDG "Live" # 937 1713-6 | Country/Year: Germany 2011 | 5% Recovery Info
Genre: Classical | Style: Romantic, Orchestral

"Even though Stefan Blunier's 2011 recording of Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 8 in C minor is a lot to digest, timed at over 88 minutes and stretched almost to the breaking point, this is a deeply compelling performance and an impressive recording that deserves all the time listeners devote to it. (…) MDG's natural, unprocessed sound is a great aid to capturing the orchestra's subtle dynamics, and the live recording has very few extraneous sounds. Highly recommended." ~AMG

Anton Bruckner - Symphony No. 8 WAB 108 (Version 1890) in C minor
Beethoven Orchester Bonn / Stefan Blunier
2xSACD | EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 331 MB | Full Artwork: 98 MB | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: MDG "Live" # 937 1713-6 | Country/Year: Germany 2011
Genre: Classical | Style: Romantic, Orchestral

"Even though Stefan Blunier's 2011 recording of Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 8 in C minor is a lot to digest, timed at over 88 minutes and stretched almost to the breaking point, this is a deeply compelling performance and an impressive recording that deserves all the time listeners devote to it. (…) MDG's natural, unprocessed sound is a great aid to capturing the orchestra's subtle dynamics, and the live recording has very few extraneous sounds. Highly recommended." ~AMG

Anton Bruckner - Symphony No. 8 WAB 108 (Version 1890) in C minor
Beethoven Orchester Bonn / Stefan Blunier
2xSACD | SACD ISO (2.0/MCH): 4,62 GB | 24B/88,2kHz Stereo FLAC: 1,34 | Full Artwork
Label/Cat#: MDG "Live" # 937 1713-6 | Country/Year: Germany 2011 | 5% Recovery Info
Genre: Classical | Style: Romantic, Orchestral

"Even though Stefan Blunier's 2011 recording of Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 8 in C minor is a lot to digest, timed at over 88 minutes and stretched almost to the breaking point, this is a deeply compelling performance and an impressive recording that deserves all the time listeners devote to it. (…) MDG's natural, unprocessed sound is a great aid to capturing the orchestra's subtle dynamics, and the live recording has very few extraneous sounds. Highly recommended." ~AMG

Anton Bruckner - 7th Symphony
Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra / Paavo Järvi
SACD ISO (2.0/MCH): 3,30 GB | 24B/88,2kHz Stereo FLAC: 1,15 GB | Partial Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: RCA Red Seal # 88697389972 | Country/Year: Europe 2009
Genre: Classical | Style: Romantic

…Collaboration between principal flute, strings, and French horns floats seamlessly toward the ultimate peroration in which Wagner’s mortality his epic posterity converge. Has the whole progress been a Rhine Journey? A vast and rewarding enterprise from first to last this Järvi Seventh.

For this 2017 CSO-Resound release, Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra present Anton Bruckner's unfinished Symphony No. 9 in D minor in a monumental performance that impresses with its marmoreal weight, poignant lyricism, and brutal volatility. Not widely known for his few Bruckner recordings, Muti nonetheless delivers this symphony with the passion and sensitivity of an experienced Brucknerian, and possibly because he hasn't recorded it before, this live rendition of the Ninth seems like an attempt to make up for lost time. Muti's intensity and the orchestra's ferocious power combine to make a memorable reading that may remind listeners of performances by such greats as Günter Wand, Eugen Jochum, and particularly Carlo Maria Giulini, whose recordings of the Ninth are recognized benchmarks. While Muti only performs the three completed movements, and eschews any attempted reconstructions of the surviving Finale sketches, the performance has a genuine feeling of wholeness, and the Adagio particularly has the grandeur and pathos that make it feel like a convincing ending, albeit one that the composer did not intend.