Post by akiralx June 12, 2010 (11 of 20)
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hiredfox said:
Herr Bruckner's symphonies are on the whole quite turgid and uninviting and fall more into the bracket of "ought to listen" as opposed to "must listen"...
Discuss... !!!
Bruckner is my favourite composer...
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I listened to this for the first time last night. The sound (stereo) was amazing, probably the best I've heard for a Bruckner symphony. Wonderfully reverberant with a good amount of detail. I'm anxious to hear it in multichannel.
I have also heard these Bruckner SACDs:
Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 - Bosch
(very reverberant cathedral, but a bit distant)
Bruckner: Symphony No. 4 - Jaap van Zweden
Bruckner: Symphony No. 7 - Jaap van Zweden
Bruckner: Symphony No. 8 - Jaap van Zweden
(detailed, but not very reverberant)
I found the performance revelatory (take this with a grain of salt, as the only recording I had previously heard was Tintner's Naxos CD). Janowski's fluid first movement tempos and swift third movement really stood out to me.
I would like to hear from Polly Nomial why his review of the sound quality of this disc 5 stars, while it is only 4 stars for Bruckner: Symphony No. 6 - Janowski. I would certainly consider purchasing it if the sound quality is similar.
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Post by Esacede November 16, 2012 (13 of 20)
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The text of this post has been deleted by the moderator. Reason:
Vendor link - please don't do it.
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ClassicalDJ said:
I would like to hear from Polly Nomial why his review of the sound quality of this disc 5 stars, while it is only 4 stars for Bruckner: Symphony No. 6 - Janowski. I would certainly consider purchasing it if the sound quality is similar.
Certainly. I think, it reflects my impression that the playing was altogether more within what one could consider to be Bruckner's intentions. The trombones sounded crass in #6 and the recording either reflected that all too well or was a partial cause of this effect. On the day I opted for the latter...
Anyway, if one wants top Bruckner, then the cycle about to be completed by Herbert Blomstedt and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig is a joy to the ears & soul. Bruckner: Symphony No. 5 - Blomstedt is now my first choice by some considerable margin when picking the 5th from the library shelves. All the other volumes are equally good - my only regret is I only started collecting them this year instead of as & when they were released!
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Post by seth November 16, 2012 (15 of 20)
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ClassicalDJ said:
I listened to this for the first time last night. The sound (stereo) was amazing, probably the best I've heard for a Bruckner symphony. Wonderfully reverberant with a good amount of detail. I'm anxious to hear it in multichannel.
I have also heard these Bruckner SACDs:
Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 - Bosch
(very reverberant cathedral, but a bit distant)
Bruckner: Symphony No. 4 - Jaap van Zweden
Bruckner: Symphony No. 7 - Jaap van Zweden
Bruckner: Symphony No. 8 - Jaap van Zweden
(detailed, but not very reverberant)
I found the performance revelatory (take this with a grain of salt, as the only recording I had previously heard was Tintner's Naxos CD). Janowski's fluid first movement tempos and swift third movement really stood out to me.
I would like to hear from Polly Nomial why his review of the sound quality of this disc 5 stars, while it is only 4 stars for Bruckner: Symphony No. 6 - Janowski. I would certainly consider purchasing it if the sound quality is similar.
Janowski's 8th in multi-channel is one of the best sound recordings I own. The way the strings radiate through my entire room in the Adagio is pretty incredible. The performance is also quite good, but certainly doesn't rival recordings by Boulez, Karajan and Gielen, as well as others.
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Post by akiralx November 17, 2012 (16 of 20)
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Post by Johnno November 20, 2012 (17 of 20)
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Polly Nomial said:
Afraid not Bill. I would say that many would find this preferable to the Harnoncourt set (although I personally have a huge soft spot for almost anything the VPO does!). As this symphony had few revisions made, I hazard a prediction that Simone Young's performance might be worth the wait (although the sound obtained so far is nowhere near as nice as Pentatone's).
Ms Young conducted this symphony at an NZSO concert earlier this year and it was a real humdinger with tempi that seemed ideal throughout and superlative orchestral playing. One of the concerts of the year for me.
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I admit to being unimpressed with Janowski's Bruckner so far. Although the actual interpretations vary in their appeal to me, I have the most reservations concerning the sound of the OSR: to my ear, what the orchestra produces for Janowski just doesn't sound distinctively Brucknerian, compared to other Central European orchestras. My benchmark SACD Bruckner 8, for example, is the Thielemann/Staatskapelle Dresden "live" recording on Profil: utterly magnificent interpretation and the Orchestra captures the essence of the Bruckner symphonic sound, IMO. Very close to this and almost as high in my estimation is the Blomstedt/Leipzig Gewandhaus (also) "live" recording on Querstand. Compared to either of these I find Janowski to be pretty weak tea, indeed.
One earlier writer in this thread described the Bruckner 5 as one of the composer's "minor" symphonies. I could not disagree more, and I suspect most Bruckner lovers would likewise disagree. Bruckner's three greatest symphonic masterworks are 5, 8 and 9 -- and it's somewhat foolish to try to play favorites among such complex works of supreme musical art; but, if faced with that traditional "desert island" choice, I would opt for the Ninth -- and in its proper 4-movement form, also.
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Post by seth November 21, 2012 (19 of 20)
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JohnProffitt said:
I admit to being unimpressed with Janowski's Bruckner so far. Although the actual interpretations vary in their appeal to me, I have the most reservations concerning the sound of the OSR: to my ear, what the orchestra produces for Janowski just doesn't sound distinctively Brucknerian, compared to other Central European orchestras. My benchmark SACD Bruckner 8, for example, is the Thielemann/Staatskapelle Dresden "live" recording on Profil: utterly magnificent interpretation and the Orchestra captures the essence of the Bruckner symphonic sound, IMO. Very close to this and almost as high in my estimation is the Blomstedt/Leipzig Gewandhaus (also) "live" recording on Querstand. Compared to either of these I find Janowski to be pretty weak tea, indeed.
I'm not sure what "distinctively Brucknerian" is, or if there is any really benefit to it.
I'd argue that Boulez's recording of the 8th -- whose Straussian interpretation is pretty non-idiomatic -- is one of the best 8ths, if not the best.
I'm still surprised that he never followed up his 8th with the rest of the symphonies (or at least just 4, 5 7 & 9).
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seth said:
I'm not sure what "distinctively Brucknerian" is, or if there is any really benefit to it.
I'd argue that Boulez's recording of the 8th -- whose Straussian interpretation is pretty non-idiomatic -- is one of the best 8ths, if not the best.
I'm still surprised that he never followed up his 8th with the rest of the symphonies (or at least just 4, 5 7 & 9).
The DG recording of the Bruckner 8th, with Boulez, is indeed quite fine. But I would argue that the excellence is due first and foremost to the orchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic, which will not play Bruckner badly for anyone, no matter how misguided or indifferent the baton-wielder. The second factor in this recording is the locale: the St Florian Basilica, again, with the Vienna Phil performing in the spiritual home of the composer, no conductor at all would be needed to produce a fine result. Another good example of this principle, just to emphasize the point: Leonard Bernstein, no intuitive Brucknerian by his own admission, stood before the VPO and produced a glowing account of the Ninth: he just let the orchestra do its thing. Distinctive culture; distinctive sound.
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