I love this guy’s style of covering a pretty esoteric subject - Versions and performances of the Bruckner 8th symphony - like he’s reviewing local hamburger joints. Excellent.
Dear Mr Hurwitz, being the first conductor to have premiered Haas' Version 1887/1890 in Italy in 2013 (and filming it twice), I want to thank you heartfelty for the words upon Karajan/VPO version. It was in my opinion the peak of his discographic career and having some 80 versions of this symphony (which for me remains the top monument of the symphonic repertoire ever), I would certainly say that for the care of details and sound and overall feeling and understanding of a score I take the pride to say I know quite well indeed , it is the ultimate Bruckner 8th. I relish the tape of 28th February 1989 Carnegie Hall. It must have been an unforgettable moment and alas I was not there. My first Bruckner 8th Live was in Musikverein Vienna in 2001 with VPO and Mehta (alas Nowak's...) and the orchestra was absolutely glorious. Conducting was quite far from that but who cares: Karajan's spirit is still embodied in the VPO when they play this Music.
I was there, at that concert - Carnegie Hall 1989, Karajan/Vienna Bruckner 8. It was the concert of my life and one of its great experiences. Because the serious and even grim aspects of the music were realized as never before - not only the triumph - it was not simply "enjoyable" nor happy, etc. It was one of the most serious occasions I had experienced outside of a church. But I don't think there are words to describe what it was.
One of my neighbour is a college student, who was getting a very loud lovey-dovey chat with her boyfriend out in the hall since it's Valentine 's Day and they think they own the floor. I cheered them with Karajan's 1988 Bruckner Eighth. Listening to their willowy conversation getting crushed by the brass chorale of the Finale sure is something satisfying =))
My friend in college used to do the same with the "Ego sum abbas" part to Carmina Burana...the digital Robert Shaw/Atlanta Sym. recording. He'd obliterate whatever noise was happening with that badass percussion passage!
This video is my introduction to Bruckner's symphonies, and your comments are very helpful. I am familiar with and attracted to some of his choral pieces, so this is new territory to nearly 60 years of informed listening, so exciting new territory. I have Wand's Brahms symphonies, that I love. Thanks!
I admit to exclaiming "Yes!" and giving a hearty thumbs-up when you displayed the Karajan VPO recording. I adore it and consider it one of the best things in my collection. I particularly love Karajan's unusually slow performance of the Scherzo, which enhances its tension and humor. The longer silences that result are irresistibly suspenseful.
Update: Since I originally posted this I have listened to ( and seen) the NDR Klassic video of the Wand/NDR live Lubeck Cathedral performance and it has become my new favorite. Thanks again David for this video! YAAAAYYYYY!!!!!! I have been waiting for this one . Many thanks. I must admit my favorite remains the old Furtwangler one. The Karajan/ Vienna is awesome, and I have read that he said "I don't know who conducted that but it wasn't me ' as though he was "channeling". I really like the Maazel as well. I don't remember the Wand but I have the Berlin recording and I will listen again. Interestingly enough the most moving finale coda for me is in the Boulez/Vienna recording which is otherwise good but not one of my favorites. P.S. just I found the finale of the Suitner Bruckner 8th on TH-cam! Extraordinary, magical, flowing and consistently deeply moving . Thanks for the tip, and the many choices to explore.
Hilarious!!!! You had me laughing out loud. I watched this right after your take on the 9th. I am going to check out the Suitner and Janowski. My very first experience was with Szell while riding through the Sierra Madre mountains in Michoacan. Since then I've heard many versions. Maazel and Giulini had me leaping about. My ultimate test. Thank you Mr David Hurwitz for your insights and the fun. Jim from Mexico
I so agree about the Maazel, I picked it up for 5 bucks years ago at a media play store. Listening in the car it blew me away. I think Jochums take on the 8th was that he took the first 2 movements faster and lighter than most. Also he I think tried to treat the scherzo as more a true classical scherzo, with a faster tempo for the outer sections. This tended to rob the music of its granduer and inevitable feeling. I always feel, the coda of the finale is the key, if that's not right, the whole journey no matter how good, is let down. Barenboim like Furtwangler always ruined it by accelerating to fast through the end. Good video ! Paul G
My first exposure to Bruckner of any kind was a live recording by Lovro Matacic and the NHK Symphony that I heard over the radio. It held me so powerfully I had to stop my car and wait to hear what the piece was. That was back in the 1980's, and I've so imprinted on that performance that I have a hard time being objective about the others. Very interested to listen to your top 5 someday. Thank you for this video.
I am so grateful to Hurwitz for introducing me to the Otmar Suitner Bruckner 8th. It is superb and I am happy to place it alongside my other favorite 8th including Tennstedt LPO live, Barbirolli live, Furtwangler live and Kubelik live and Wand Cologne live. All my favorite 8th are live. The Suitner belongs with this group in that it never relaxes the tension for a moment in this great symphony. Barbirolli and Furtwangler remain the most impassioned and intense performances that I know but Suitner comes close. Thanks Dave!
I really think of Bruckner as a composer of the Future. Much of his compositions are so fresh and modern. I imagine how he would compose to film, and would feel he would have made a valuable contribution to cinema.
So happy Maestro Celi made the list! I watched the live recording available on youtube. That finale march, with the timpani, is COLLOSAL! I was afraid you didnt include him because (if im not mistaken) you rarely mentioned him. Thanks for the video David. Certainly will look for the other 9 on the list.
Essa gravação é incrível. O scherzo é bem equilibrado. Acho o tímpano o grande diferencial. A partir da letra L no adagio a orquestra cria um momento sublime, é bem transcendental, até explodir com o trombone tocando forte. Os metais tocando forte antes da coda no último movimento também é lindíssimo. E a coda. Só senti falta de ouvir mais as tubas no início da coda. Uma versão com o Gunter Wand mostra melhor o som das tubas nessa parte.
My fave is the live recording by Sergiu Celibidache / Munich Phil (1890 Nowak). Some say his tempi are too slow but I find them just right. Glad you mentioned it, I'll have to try the alternate version you mention! I grew up in the 60's with the Karajan which is very nice too.
His tempi would be too slow with any other conductor, but if one can phrase like Celibidache, generating and holding these long arches of suspense, then they are just right. At least with composers whose music lends itself to this type of aesthetic, like Bruckner, Schumann, Schubert, Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky (Celibidache with Mozart or Beethoven does not work).
J'ai parcouru grâce à David von Karajan, Wand, Suitner, Janowski, Skrowaczewski, Giulini et Celibidache et je dois dire que Celi est absolument merveilleux dans ceci. La musique coule irresistiblement.
I love the Giulini/VPO - his adagio captures a sense of gentle exultation that no one else manages (IMHO). Other superb versions by Giulini: live in Berlin (Testament - #1 in BBC Radio 3 "Building a Library" in 2011) and the Philharmonia (BBC Legends). My favourite of these three is the VPO. I agree about Wand and Lubeck. Suitner is a very interesting and surprising tip! Many thanks!
The Eight, Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, and Monteverdi's Vespers are amongst my lifetime top 10. Fabio Luisi deserves a listen - the horns are magnificent. BUT - did anyone find Suitner available for streaming? I found the 4th and it is AMAZING. Yes, I know the difference between lowercase and uppercase. Now you bet I want Suitner's Eight.
Why does Giulini have to play everything so slow?? This was his catharsis towards the end of his life.. Too bad. He was a grreat conductor in the 1950s and early 60s.
I will look for the Suitner for sure. My favorites have always been the Celibidache/Munich on EMI and the Wand live in Lubeck Cathedral. You’ve(as always) given food for thought and “new” performances to check out. I’ve heard this symphony live at least 4-5 times with conductors such as Tennstedt, Skrowaczewski, Mehta...I always come back to the Celibidache. It’s not just the broadness of the interpretation, but the impeccable balances and most of all the spirituality that permeates his approach from start to finish. I’d also just mention the Barenboim/Chicago on DG, which is a very good interpretation but it’s the sheer quality of the playing by the CSO that is so stunning.
Great video, Dave, thank you. I was eagerly awaiting this one! I broadly agree with your picks, although I must say I have a soft spot for the very old Jochum-Hamburg on DG (despite the iffy sound and scruffy postwar orchestra), and the Boulez-Vienna in St. Florian. I imprinted on the Karajan-Vienna when I was a teenager, and I was blown away by the Suitner when I bought it, after reading your review on ClassicsToday.
Something I particularly like about Wand's version is that he does a crescendo in the penultimate chord of the Scherzo's main theme (Ab minor with 9th). It sounds great!
Finally, yes! I was looking forward to this, and you delivered as per usual. Got to know the work with the later Karajan, and also love the version of Celibidache. Just ordered the NDR-Wand, looking forward to hearing that special acoustic!
I just found you and I am stunned!! I will follow you with everything you do. I was a music critic in a small market but heard some great international artists (1990-2000). Memory may fail, but I recall hearing Solti, Chicago do 8th, Carnegie, early 70s. Had a subscription to all they did there for a few years.
Of the Celibidache Bruckner 8ths, I prefer the older one on Deutsche Gramophon with the Stuttgart orchestra. I think it's slow enough to let all the detail and shape come through, but not so slow that it becomes hard to listen to. I am pleased that Solti didn't find his way into this top ten. I don't like his Bruckner 8th. When he hadn't been mentioned, and number one was coming up, I was gritting my teeth. There is an unexpectedly decent Bruckner 8th by Mravinsky, of all people. I thought I would hate it, but it's definitely got its moments. It is, predictably, fast.
This is my favorite Bruckner work. I heard Blomstedt and San Francisco perform this, sitting behind the trumpets. A memorable and thrilling experience. I do have a soft spot for Chailly’s Concertgebouw recording, for the gorgeous playing and acoustic. I will get out the Karajan/Vienna recording again to compare. Thanks, David, for the fine recommendations.
I was also at the Karajan/Vienna 8th at Carnegie. It was a loaded occasion, foremost because it was obviously the last time Karajan would travel to NYC. I remember him coming out for bows, looking toward the upper tier seats and waving. It was hard not to take that as goodbye. It was indeed an inspired, intense performance.
Dave sounding conciliatory: "I realize there are those who prefer the earlier version..." Then Dave going in for the kill: "...but they are mentally ill." Lol.
Yes - Dave's right, the rarely-played first version (1887) is bizarre. There's a very serious performance of that 1887 on video with Welser-Möst / Cleveland. It almost neutralizes some of its wandering effect... but still...
As a self confessed Bruckner fanatic (hiding), I am proud to say I have had all of your top 10 choices for years before I saw this video except Janowski. Bruckner is my favorite conductor, the 8th is the summit and probably my fav symphony of all, and I've been fortunate to see/hear the 8th live a half dozen times (StL and Cincy). Such an emotional piece of music. I envy your Karajan experience! I completely agree with your high praise for Wand's stunning Lubeck Cathedral live recording with that majestic acoustic adding such atmosphere to the recording. I would probably rank that my #1, and I became a Wand fanboy because of that recording. I also agree re the Karajan Vienna recording, the sound, the circumstances and the best Bruckner orchestra all combining to make virtually a perfect recording. Similar thoughts re Giulini's very profound VPO reading also. I found the Suitner on Berlin years ago, and that is also up there as one of my favorites. A few of my favorites that you didn't mention would be the Schuricht Vienna from the early 60s on EMI, paired with the 9th. Stunning beautiful and powerful recording with great structure and flow. Also on SACD. I love that recording by the underrated Schuricht. Also, the Eichorn with the Bruckner Linz Orchestra on Camerata label is not as well known and harder to find, but its a spectacular recording with an orchestra that "gets it" and almost rivals the VPO's Bruckner in that dark burnished string tone and excellent brass. An underdog gem. Also can't go wrong with Bohm and the VPO again, and Chailly with the Concertgebouw. Love the detailed review, and I do agree the revisions and alternates scholarship does become a tad overdone.
Very grateful to you for drawing our attention to Suitner's 8th. It is all that you say. The performance is fired up and infectiously exciting, no mean feat with such a huge, often slow-moving piece.
Yes ! After you mentioned Wand / Berlin I didn‘t expected it: Wand at the Schleswig-Holstein Musikfestival in Lübeck. I‘m living in Schleswig-Holstein and this was the first time I ever heard this symphony (on television). I was 21 years old. The first release was on EMI/deutsche harmonia mundi. Now I have many other recordings (even Venzago). But this was always my favourite. And the sound is phantastic ! Greetings from Northern Germany !
And Kind Regards from Kopenhagen Dänemark as well! I have owned the Wand/Lübeck recording for about 25 years but failed to find the Zen moment where I can put it on and enjoy it from start till end. I guess it will be on the Autobahn down south and preferably when I cross the border to Austria.
Kind regards from Shanghai, China! I too own the Lübeck set, which I grabbed from a old CD dealer almost 15 years ago (at the price of only ~7 USD). Oh my, the reverberation is probably nowhere else to be found on CD. How I wish I could listen to this piece by a capable conductor and orchestra in a gigantic gothic church!
Chocolates, strawberries, avocados: oy vey, now I need lunch! I do love the Tintner as I love the whole box set, but I’m certainly not going to argue that ending is the one we need to hear. I think Celibidache’s Bruckner 8ths, both the Sony one in Tokyo and the EMI one in Munich. I know they are long but to me, they have a certain titanic, idiomatic majesty I find utterly absorbing and the absolute best. I know many find it contemptible, but if you aren’t going to lay things on thick in Bruckner’s 8, where in the whole classical canon? Skro gets the silver for me, in part because that’s perhaps my favorite Bruckner cycle overall. Bronze? What the hay, I’ll go with a conductor rarely associated with Bruckner: Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra. No muss, no fuss, precisely played.
@@DavesClassicalGuide A true gem among classical music channels. As a layman with an abiding interest in Bruckner and Mahler, this has been amazing. What did you think of Benjamin Zander’s recent rendition of the 8th with the Boston Symphony?
It’s odd, because I think I understand what the tempo for the finale is *supposed* to be according to Bruckner, and Zander’s explanation was great, but I like the fast interpretations by the likes of Rögner much better. No accounting for my taste, I suppose!
Hi Dave. Just discovered your TH-cam channel a couple of days ago when I watched this segment. I also saw the Skrowaczewski 8th performance with the Baltimore (1980 +/-). Don't remember the tamtam but recall that I thought that the maestro might elevate above the podium at one point during the 3rd movement as his widely open arms moved rather bird-like. The '87 movement 1 coda is so bumbling. I couldn't stop laughing. Keep it coming.
"Skrowaczewski added a tam-tam" Tampering? TAMPERING? WITH BRUCKNER??!! The Cloistered Council of the Bruckner Brotherhood shall hear of this, and at once. May Bruckner have mercy on your soul.
Dave, what are your thoughts on Celibidache's Bruckner recordings with the Munich Philharmonic? They are certainly perverse in terms of tempo, but I actually love how slow he sets the music, and the richness of the sound is just incredible, unmatched in my opinion!
Celibidache's Bruckner recordings with the Munich Philharmonic were my introduction to Bruckner years ago. They made me a Bruckner-Celibidache-only addict, except for the 7th symphony where Karajan surpasses the former (for me). It is only after watching Dave's videos about other great Bruckner composers that I began to appreciate different styles of performing these works. But good old Celi is still the one being pumped through the speakers here. Or preferably the headphones, late at night with all the lights off... Instant transportation to the uppermost Bruckner heavens.
Thank you for an interesting talk. I love Bruckner's music but all the scholarship gives me hives! You manage to cut through it and make it simple. Just a few ideas for future consideration: Roussel box on Erato Pretre Icon box Poulenc box on Erato Martinon Late Years box I've been exploring the 64 cd Cluytens box...a real winner. Best wishes!
Oh thank you Dave for this review! I know ive been pestering you for Bruckner 8th lately. Finally I'll leave you alone for some rime! I would like to add one to your recommendation: Solti with Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Thanks for reminding me about the Maazel recording. I agree so wholeheartedly about that recording and about Maazel in general! The Boulez/VPO recording is the one on regular rotation on my phone, and it's great, but you've reminded me to go back and listen to the Maazel recording... and it's even better. I was fortunate to see Maazel conduct Bruckner's 8th at the NY Phil in 2008 and it bowled me over, I practically leapt out of my seat at the end. The performance had the same roaring brass and clear articulation as the Berlin PO recording. Other Maazel performances (like when he did Brahms or Dvorak) would infuriate me. The precision in Maazel's technique, and the way he could get orchestras to follow every detail of his sometimes crazy shifts in tempo and dynamics, were unparalleled -- for better or worse. I think he was the most *skilled* conductor I've ever seen, even if the skills were put in service of musical ideas that were sometimes eccentric, to say the least.
Interesting video, merci David ! I would add to my favorite: Bohm with Vienna (DG), and Kegel with Leipzig Radio (the orchestra is not perfect but the intensity, the violence are beyond words).
I bow to your Bruckner expertise, and I respect that you don't care between Haas v Nowak... But, I care, if given the choice... there are two or three moments I love that appear in the Hass that aren't in the Nowak... That being said, you are right, it shouldn't be a big deal... What I absolutely hate concerning the Nowak editions, which ofend me as a trumpeter and musician are 1) the use of key signatures in the Trumpet parts - no trumpet parts of that time ever included key signatures. It is so distracting to transpose parts in F with key sigs. and 2) Rehearsal numbers appearing every 10 bars. These bear no relation to the phrases or sections. Bruckner, who numbered measures based on the phrasing (1-8, 1-10, 1-4, etc..) would have been appalled....
I hear you! However, as you yourself suggest, the fact that you (or I) care doesn't mean that it matters. I prefer Haas too, but I'd rather hear a great performance of Nowak than a tepid one of Haas, and in the end the differences are not significant enough to alter the expressive power of the music (which is not the case as regards 1887). The other notational details you cite don't affect how listeners hear the music.
The Wand Lubek Cathedral performance is one I return to frequently. I have a Schuricht 1963 VPO recording on Decca which while the sound is bright in places I find rewarding.
Schuricht recorded the Eighth w/ VPO for EMI, not Decca, on 9-12 December 1963. Produced by Ronald Kinloch Anderson, balance engineer listed as unknown on EMI Classics 1991 2CD reissue (c/w Ninth, 20-22 November 1961). It is a classic.
As a corollary to my earlier comment, I like the recordings by the Cleveland Orchestra conducted by Szell and Dohnanyi, The playing in both performances is stunning, with marvelous rhythmic acuity and clarity abetted by hefty sonorities where called for.
I love the Karajan/VPO recording. I recently bought the live 1978 Karl Böhm Tonhalle Zurich recording. I enjoy it, as well, but Karajan will always be my favorite.
Oxford University Orchestra (OUO) was initially going to do Bruckner 9 with Remy Ballot next month, but THANK GOD he changed the programme! I was told that Remy would like to take 85 minutes! Surely that would include a finale realisation, right? WRONG! 85 minutes is without the finale! Ballot would have out-Celibidached Celibidache himself! Also, allegedly, Ballot insisted on some weird disciplinary practices for students if they were to do Bruckner 9, which I don't even know or care about. Instead, OUO will do Schubert 8 (yet another unfinished symphony), Ravel's Mother Goose and Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade.
Listening to the Skrowaczewski Bruckner 8 Adagio and it's making my spine tingle within 4 minutes, just magical. Interesting compared to yesterday when I listened to Haitink's Philips Concertgebouw go at the same movement, and I was perplexed. It had no identifiable shape, just block by boring block, the climax just arrives & is not the destination, it's just another block. Listening to the Skrowaczeski as I write this, there's just absolutely no comparison. And then watched this video of you saying Haitink just didn't get this symphony in his early recordings. You're not kidding.
Love the video! Never occurred to me to connect Bruckner version(s) with avocados! Great! Makes sense! "Hass" I will continue to explore recordings I've not heard. Thanks for the recommendations!
As others have commented, I've been waiting for this review and it is a gas! Another (somewhat surprising) fine version is Solti's in the Eloquence/VPO Bruckner box. Now, how about an overview of the best (and definitely the worst) Bruckner cycles/sets. And while you're at it, there are the Myaskovsky symphonies. . .
Thanks for the recommendations! So far, my favorite is the Celibidache live (Sony-) recording, followed by the late recording with Karajan. However, with Karajan I am a little disappointed with the coda of the finale, which seems a bit too fast and not gigantic to me. Who shouldn't be recommended as the first choice for Bruckner's 8th Symphony is the live recording with Barbirolli. At first I didn't like it that much, because it doesn't have the size and grandeur of the other recordings. But now I like it a lot because of the glowing passion. It is by no means boring and for lovers of the 8th Symphony it should be an enrichment.
Dave, I bought the Karajan/VPO recording of the Bruckner 8th shortly after it was originally released, and I loved it. It was on 2 CDs. Now I see that DG has reissued it as one of their "The Originals" recordings. Other than fitting it on to one CD, did DG improve the sound in any way?
I just got the single disk version reviewed here. There is no comparison between the muddy old 2 disk version and the new version on one disk which is far superior. Go buy the new version --- it is wonderful.
To van Beinum and Giulini I would add (strange as it may sound) Boulez/Vienna.The only Bruckner I've ever heard him do and it's stunning. Also, an honorable mention goes to Horenstein/Vienna Pro Musica Orchestra, even if the sonics could be better.
Great choices! Every one you recommended is one of my favorites and already on my shelf with one exception: The Suitner, which sits on Amazon for over $900, so I'll wait to hear that until it gets reissued or I find it at a reasonable price. Some of the special Bruckner 8ths that I felt deserved a mention (your feeling on these?): Horenstein on BBC, Szell, Giulini/BPO live on Testament, Schuricht/VPO, and one I bought based on your glowing review: Bohm live on Palexa. My top 3 BTW would would be VPO/Karajan, Wand/BPO, and Szell/Cleveland. (Ask me next week and it will probably change slightly!)
David, you were at the Carnegie Karajan Bruckner 8? Wow... Envy. I've heard so many stories. I have friends in the orchestra who still talk about that performance. Do you know the Audio version of the concert on TH-cam?
Thank you for another terrific talk! Super interesting! Not that it is necessary to rank music in lists, however, if I would, Bruckner’s Eight could well be the greatest of all symphonies. A friend of mine has 90+ versions but myself I have less than ten. Haitink RCO, Haitink Dresden, Celibidache München, Furtwängler Wien 1944, Abendroth, Horenstein, van Beinum, Knappertsbusch Berlin 1951, I think that’s it. I realise I have been buying lots of historical recordings. Another thing: solo instrumental performances have a prominent place in my listening habits and collection as well. I haven’t dug so deeply into the mass of recordings of symphonic repertoire, I have been too busy listening to solo pianists of the past, like Edwin Fischer, Rachmaninov, Cortot and Lili Kraus. In their cases I needn’t doubt for a second wether the sacrifice of a crisp stereo sound is worth it or not. In orchestral recordings I’ve only sporadically made any slightly deeper research in multiple versions of one piece. Anyway, in Bruckner 8 my favourite remains Furtwängler in Vienna 1944. Cheers Mikko Lindgren
David discussed the confusing Bruckner editions very clearly. I found Bohm with VPO is also a very convincing recording. It contains the tension and distinctive beauty that the eight demands. I am a little sad this recording doesn't get attention as much as his fourth.
Two small notes. In addition to the (one of the) Gunter Wand recording in a cathedral there is also at least a video of a performance by von Karajan and the VPO in a large Cathedral, I think it's Melk, though I'm not certain. Easily findable on TH-cam. I don't know if this performance - from 1979 - ever appeared on disc. And speaking of percussion extrapolations, von Karajan uses two timpanists on two sets of timpani to play the long rolls in the coda. I've never seen or heard anyone else do that - thought it does make some sense. I also don't know if its the same recording that Mr. Hurwitz admires so much - but there's a Bruckner's 8th conducted by Suitner with the SK Berlin - also on TH-cam. It states that its from studio recording sessions from 1986 and 1987; Now that it's so highly recommended, I'm going to listen!
Just a note that my copy of NDR/Wand is on EMI, but seems to be the same recording from Lübeck Cathedral. The recording date(s) are specified as August 22nd and 23rd, 1987. It’s pretty wonderful.
The back of the Lübeck 8th CD says that it was recorded "in a full public rehearsal and two concerts on 24th, 25th and 28th June [1988] in Lübeck Cathedral". Going by that, the EMI would be a different recording; I'm sure it's great, though... Wand usually was in this symphony!
@@ftumschk Thank you! I had wondered about just such a possibility, and that's why I posted the information. What treat to have such wonderful music, and to have it performed so well.
@@davidgoodman6538 RCA messed up the blurb on the back of the CD cases for some of their Wand Lubeck 8 and Lubeck 9 "cathedral cover art" releases. In the faulty batch, the performance and recording dates of the 9th are discussed on the back of the CD case of the 8th, and vice versa. There is only one recording of each symphony by Wand in that cathedral as far as I know: the 8th in 1987 and 9th in 1988.
Thanks for the great list! Just one additional suggestion, I'm usually not a Boulez fan but his recording with the Wiener Phil is just out of this world - at least to my perhaps undistinguised ears.
i go most often to the dg originals (1 disc!) vienna karajan... but the tokyo celibidache and the lubeck wand are where i find the most endearing beauty and power and life...
We can be thankful for the number of fine recordings of the 8th. Have always liked the Haitink 8th on Philips. The 1981 digital recording with the Concertgebow. His digital Bruckner 9th with the same orchestra is equally as good.
Skrowaczewski performance has always been my favorite fir Bruckner’s Eighth (as well as Brahms’ Fourth) I have not heard the Suitner or the Wand Lubeck Cathedral (whose Bruckner performances I usually enjoy) but I will find both and give them a listen. Another performance you did not mention that I really enjoy, especially the first two movements, is Tennstedt and LSO. I was curious if you are familiar with it and, if so, you like it. Thank you as always, and I look forward to hearing a couple of new (to me) performances this Bruckner masterpiece.
It makes me sad because I really believe LSO has the right sound for Bruckner, no there are no good performances with them, and I blame the conductors and not the ensemble. I feel like Tennstedt doesn’t understand the adagio or finale movements. The performance is sort of like that Kubrick/Spielberg movie A.I. where the first half was outstanding but the second half stunk.
@@DavesClassicalGuide I beg to differ. I have 15 versions of this symphony on CD and DVD. My favourite is Horenstein’s live Prom with the LSO. It has the finest timpani playing (by the great Kurt-Hans Gödicke) that I have ever heard. His playing in the scherzo drives the music forward with a thrilling momentum that has to be heard to be believed.
@@antwerpsmerle1404 I've heard it and I don't believe it. Seriously. I agree that it's very good, just not as good as other options available today. Like what you please--that's fine with me.
What are your thoughts on Tennstedt’s live recording with the London Philharmonic? It’s one of my favourites, it’s faster than average and has one of the most exciting endings I’ve heard.
I like it, but I like most Tennstedt performances. He did a number of excellent Bruckner 8's with other orchestras including the NDR, Boston SO, Berliner Phil, Chicago SO, and The Philadelphia Orchestra.
I remember being at the box office in Symphony Hall in Boston one Thursday afternoon in 1974 to buy tickets for something else, when someone came up to me and offered a seat at Tennstedt's Bruckner 8 which was going to be performed that night. I went and was sufficiently bowled over that I listened on radio the next day to the afternoon performance, then went back to the box office and got a ticket to the Saturday evening concert... which was the best of all. I still remember Joseph Silverstein smiling broadly at Alfred Krips in satisfaction at how well the violins had aced the slow movement. Then I followed up with a trip to Tanglewood the following summer, but that time the magic seemed lost. Maybe it was just that the Tanglewood shed couldn't duplicate the intensity of the Symphony Hall acoustic.
'I will learn more from the Vienna Philharmonic than they will learn from me.' P.B. Marvelous performance. But is there a V.P. performance of Bruckner 8 that is not fabulous? I have yet to hear one.
@@sbor2020 : A rare and admirable moment of humility from Mr. P.B., who otherwise uttered publicly such bon mots as "Anyone who has not adopted the dodecaphonic method of composition is irrelevant" and "First we blow up all the opera houses" (and I do not even like opera that much--- at least, playing it can be exasperating... but considering its role as an integral and important component of Western musical culture, destroying the opera houses seems rather arrogant). Still, difficult to argue with the fact he probably had the best ears in the business, even if a detailed analysis of his massive recorded legacy (cannot, alas, remember where I first read that) indicates that he was nowhere near as faithful to the texts of the works he conducted as had often been claimed. An intriguing figure, to be sure... Still, a great Bruckner 8 is its own justification.^^ In parting, though, I cannot help setting the cats among the pigeons, as it were. While acknowledging that the revised 1890 version is superior (particularly the Scherzo, and the glorious trio thereof with the remarkable harp-writing), I have a great fondness for the loud 1887 first-movement coda, and I am glad certain conductors have preserved that for our consideration. [Lamentably, I was a year too late gaining admission to the NYOC (National Youth Orchestra of Canada) to be able to work with Maestro Tintner in his last year with the ensemble, 1989. In 1983, he had given the North American premiere of the 1887 version in various Canadian cities on tour, and recorded it as well, though said recording is now out of print.]
Hi David, could you please tell us the barcode of the Suitner version? I have not been able to find the recording anywhere. Thank you so much for your funny videos !!
what do you think about Blomstedt with Gewandhaus? I never heard the recording but I played this symphony with Mr. B. himself and it was a life-changing experience, I'm curious to see why he didn't make it on the list.
In addition to the Ormandy Box (120 cds-mono era) that has a release date of April 21 (in Japan? in Europe?) There are 2 other boxes coming- Previn Warner Box- EMI and Teldec 96 discs, and Abbado/ LSO etc. on DG 46 discs...I'm guessing there's no Bruckner 8th in any of those boxes which is ok by me. Dave, what's the latest on these new releases?
My take on 1887 is this: With his ridiculous outburst at the end of the first movement (in major), it's as though Bruckner is saying, "OK folks, all the obligatory, minor-keyed 'sturm und drang' stuff is over with. Let's party!". . . . Perhaps Bruckner was wanting to relive his youth with that earlier version. By the way, I love your picks.
When I first listened to these recommendations I went and listened to virtually all of them on Spotify or TH-cam. At first I couldn't understand why you rated Maazel so highly --to me it seemed a performance totally lacking in character. What a fool I was. Now I realized that it was just that the recording had low volume (on Spotify at least). I turned up the volume and goodness, what a splendid performance this is! Perfectly proportioned as you say. I'll have to listen to it a few more times in order to decide if it's my new favourite, but in any event it's now in my top three together with Skrowaczewski/Saarbrücken and Wand/NDR (Lübeck), my two other favorites. So thank you very much Dave for this recommendation (and for the other two I mentioned as well, which I also got to via this video when I was new to Bruckner).
Wand's live in Luebeck was once my favorite although sometimes the trumpets may be a little bit harsh, until I found a special version on which to my surprise I saw no discussion here. It was the legendary Celibidache with MPO live in Lisboa 1994. This recent official release from a Japanese label is even better than the SONY Live in Tokyo version. I'm not a Christian but I think I can imagine angels leading to the gate of the heaven when listening to the coda of the finale.
If my memory does not fail me, my first introduction to Bruckner at a concert hall was the 7th by Jesús López Cobos conducting the Spanish National Orchestra. About 12 days before getting married (November 1989) I heard that same symphony conducted by Sergiu Celibidache and the Münchner Philharmoniker. While the judge (ours was a civil wedding) was asking me if I knew what I was about to do, I had passages of the 1st or 2nd movement going through my head, enough to stop the emotion from getting the better of me. Since then, I got to see Celi conduct the 3rd (twice), 4th and 8th. There is no Bruckner like his. He conducted 99 concerts in Spain and I was at nine of them. I have his complete (barring the 1st, 2nd, zero and double zero) set released by EMI and pirate (or bootleg) recordings of the 4th and 9th, 5th and 8th with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra and the 7th by one of the RAI orchestras. The one issue I have with Celi is the fact that not once did he bring me to tears (recordings do not affect me in the same way as live performances). Unlike Mahler, Bruckner does not quite move me enough.
Hi David, I just listened to your recommended recording. Found it on TH-cam. I can see why you chose it. It's got great character about it. Sounds like it's a live recording with the audience noise reduced. Don't quote me on that. Slightly ragged around the edges, but that's what gives it it's character. Certainly exciting in the finale. I'm just amazed how so many different performances of Bruckner make it sound like a different composer sometimes. I have the Gunter wand version with the NDR, I like the sound from that one, even though his tempi are generally leisurely. Thanks, enjoyable video..
Günter Wand/Lübeck is extraordinary - it sounds like he has about 20 double basses. But it's the quieter moments that really stay in the mind. Karajan 1988 I have mixed feelings about. There is that inner glow and the Vienna strings cover themselves in glory, but listening to it now, I find the ensemble lapses in the slow movement troubling. The live performance DG/Unitel recorded in St. Florian has Karajan's best first movement I would say - the trumpets blasting out the Hauptrhythmus at the climax has a ferocity that just isn't there in his other recordings. Giulini I have always loved for his big-picture approach and the way he makes everything sing. I want to put in a good word for the Sinopoli/Dresden Staatskapelle - gloriously played and for the most part, Sinopoli gets out of the way. I don't know the Suitner and look forward to hearing it.
Dave - greetings from the Penal Colonies. Congratulations on your ursine "BBBRRRUUUCCCKKKNNNEEERRR" which is your best ever. Thank you too for being astute in (a) your dismissal of Jochum EMI and DG (V2) and your championing of Maazel with the Berlin Phil which is a fabulous recording as you rightly say. On my part, Karajan's 1944 account of the finale in stereo is my equivalent of your Carnegie Hall experience. Best wishes and keep up the great work - B
Bernard, your 5-star review of the Wand Lubeck Cathedral Bruckner 8 has vanished from the ol' Amazon. I suspect they have deleted the product listing and thus the review. Do you have a copy of it still?
@@bwpm1467 Matthew, thanks for letting me know. For what my thoughts are worth - not much - Amazon has been taking a dim view of the more polemical side of my reviews. I have reinstated the one in question, even if I cannot remember how I concluded it. If the censor bestows an imprimatur on it, it should appear in 24 hours. This is Dave's turf whose boundaries I respect - I wont table it, much to the relief of some! With immense thanks, B
Maybe I missed it, but Tennstedt with the bso and later in Europe is the Bruckner 8 for me. I heard it live in Boston Symphony Hall and it is the supreme symphonic experience of my life. A version not well record ed is on TH-cam.
I've been an admirer of your posts and was particularly looking forward to your views on this work. I very much agree that life is too short to get hung up on Nowak or Haas in this work. I also agree that Suitner's recording is my favourite. I also like Haitink's live recording with the Dresden Staatskapelle. Tennstedt's live recording with the BPO is another favourite of mine.
A couple of years ago I rearranged my work schedule in London to get back to Edinburgh in time for a performance of Bruckner 8. I was assuming 1890 as a particular edition had not been advertised - and this is well known to be a piece where edition really matters. Performance started and it rapidly became clear that it was the 1887. Interested in Dave H's comment about the original scherzo not being very dynamically varied - I walked out and went home to listed to Scrowaczewski midway through the scherzo, as I thought it was just a lousy performance as well as being the wrong edition.
Almost a lecture on a mighty Bruckner's 8, thank you! I have a question though. I know you said there is no point in comparing Haas and Nowak but it seems that Haas edition doomed to oblivion since none of the young conductors would play it, everyone prefers Nowak as the ultimate 'true' version. Is it a real thing or not so?
Yes, because current Bruckner scholarship insists on methodological grounds that Haas is unacceptable (and he was a Nazi, which never helps). Then they go and do the same thing (or worse) that Haas did. It's very unfortunate.
I enjoyed listening to this, as it was informed, instructive (The demonstration of why the 1890 version is superior is excellent.) and wonderfully subjective. This symphony is my favourite one, and I have quite a collection of recordings with it, including everyone mentioned here. Yes, even Venzago. But i bought it in a record shop in Vienna for 4 Euro, listened to it once and put it away. And those notes to it by the conductor are really borderline insane. My own favourite, Kurt Eichhorn with Bruckner Orchester Linz didn't even qualify for the final heat, but it is a crowded field and to each their own. Suitner is excellent too, and so are indeed the nine others mentioned as well. David has a point in that some Bruckner enthusiasts goes too far, even if he may exaggerate a bit. Anyway, it is true that Carraghan unfortunately has created a monster. I believe though, that Schaller has the intention to record virtually any version of Bruckner's symphonies existing, so I hope he will eventually turn his attention to the good one as well. There is one thing though I can't approve of, and that is calling Remy Ballot an idiot. So he takes his sweet time, and as far as I know he studied for a while under Celibidache,. This Gramola recording of his differs about one minute from Celibidache's on EMI, so Cobra he aint. Perhaps it is my increasing tinnitus, but I see nothing particularly inept with his conduction either, perhaps one should rather commend him for making an orchestra with so young musicians play this well. And well they play. But again, to each their own. And it is not my favourite either. I prefer a more Austrian, earthbound Bruckner to the saintly version.
Ballot really is an idiot--or perhaps I should say a tasteless fool. Celi would be spinning in his grave. His tempos may not be much slower, but they sound about ten times as long owing to the slack rhythms and flat phrasing, the sonics are dreadful, and the orchestra of kids sounds, well, hardly world class. This was a school exercise that ought never to have been issued. You're obviously a discerning listener, and probably a lot nicer than I am, but Ballot is disgusting--objectively.
@@DavesClassicalGuide Thanks for a well argued answer. I see your points, I will take them up to consideration. Perhaps it is my emotional attachment to this recording which clogs my judgement, considering the way I got it. In any case, I will re-listen to when convenient. Keep up the good work and all the best.
@@lennarttangen5653 There's nothing wrong with emotional attachment. If it gives you joy, then enjoy it. Please just keep in mind that your only responsibility is to say what you like best, whereas mine is to try to suggest what others will like based on real-time comparisons of dozens of available versions. Of course this is filtered through the lens of my own personal taste and experience, but it's a very different perspective, and one that I take very seriously. So I am not suggesting that you should give up on a favorite, merely because I don't like it.
@@DavesClassicalGuide No problem. It is not my favourite by far,. I think I have listened to it twice. I am not a fan of Celibidache either, for that matter. But this recording reminds me of a person who was very dear to me and by whom I received this very recording. That is the emotional part. I still don't think Ballot is an idiot, I just don't like his style. Too schleppend, as it is...Anyway, life is to short for bickering about anything, and I have most recordings worth it name for this symphony.
Thank you for the video! Loved and shared your opinions on 1887/90, as well as Nowak/Haas and silliness surrounding everything about Bruckner. I wondered if you have heard Sir John Barbirolli's recording, made in 1970 (the year he died) with the Hallé Orchestra. I'm in love with the astonishing energy he pulls out of the scherzo (and how the mad tempo actually works wonderfully!). Hope you can give me your opinion about that. Keep going on with your videos!
I love this guy’s style of covering a pretty esoteric subject - Versions and performances of the Bruckner 8th symphony - like he’s reviewing local hamburger joints. Excellent.
This absolutely made my day. Never thought of Karajan's 8th as White Castle, but so it goes!
This talk made me realize (once again) how blessed we are to live in these times.
So so many great recordings of our beloved works available!
Dear Mr Hurwitz, being the first conductor to have premiered Haas' Version 1887/1890 in Italy in 2013 (and filming it twice), I want to thank you heartfelty for the words upon Karajan/VPO version. It was in my opinion the peak of his discographic career and having some 80 versions of this symphony (which for me remains the top monument of the symphonic repertoire ever), I would certainly say that for the care of details and sound and overall feeling and understanding of a score I take the pride to say I know quite well indeed , it is the ultimate Bruckner 8th. I relish the tape of 28th February 1989 Carnegie Hall. It must have been an unforgettable moment and alas I was not there. My first Bruckner 8th Live was in Musikverein Vienna in 2001 with VPO and Mehta (alas Nowak's...) and the orchestra was absolutely glorious. Conducting was quite far from that but who cares: Karajan's spirit is still embodied in the VPO when they play this Music.
Bravo, mate!
I was there, at that concert - Carnegie Hall 1989, Karajan/Vienna Bruckner 8. It was the concert of my life and one of its great experiences. Because the serious and even grim aspects of the music were realized as never before - not only the triumph - it was not simply "enjoyable" nor happy, etc. It was one of the most serious occasions I had experienced outside of a church. But I don't think there are words to describe what it was.
@@adrianleverkuehn9832 I keep hearing that Karajan's version is too fast...this is why I've abstained from it. Maybe it is time I gave it a chance!
One of my neighbour is a college student, who was getting a very loud lovey-dovey chat with her boyfriend out in the hall since it's Valentine 's Day and they think they own the floor. I cheered them with Karajan's 1988 Bruckner Eighth. Listening to their willowy conversation getting crushed by the brass chorale of the Finale sure is something satisfying =))
How sad!
@@nightjaronthegate My bad. I fixed it.
I’d have hit them with something non-tonal but, yeah! Big brass kicks a$$!
My friend in college used to do the same with the "Ego sum abbas" part to Carmina Burana...the digital Robert Shaw/Atlanta Sym. recording. He'd obliterate whatever noise was happening with that badass percussion passage!
@@phamthanh4785 Fabulous story 🤣🤣
This video is my introduction to Bruckner's symphonies, and your comments are very helpful. I am familiar with and attracted to some of his choral pieces, so this is new territory to nearly 60 years of informed listening, so exciting new territory. I have Wand's Brahms symphonies, that I love. Thanks!
I admit to exclaiming "Yes!" and giving a hearty thumbs-up when you displayed the Karajan VPO recording. I adore it and consider it one of the best things in my collection. I particularly love Karajan's unusually slow performance of the Scherzo, which enhances its tension and humor. The longer silences that result are irresistibly suspenseful.
Are you THE Jack Dahlquist that I knew in Cincinnati?
If so, howdy.
@@marknewkirk4322 Well well! I am indeed, Mark. Howdy back at you!
Update: Since I originally posted this I have listened to ( and seen) the NDR Klassic video of the Wand/NDR live Lubeck Cathedral performance and it has become my new favorite. Thanks again David for this video!
YAAAAYYYYY!!!!!! I have been waiting for this one . Many thanks. I must admit my favorite remains the old Furtwangler one. The Karajan/ Vienna is awesome, and I have read that he said "I don't know who conducted that but it wasn't me ' as though he was "channeling". I really like the Maazel as well. I don't remember the Wand but I have the Berlin recording and I will listen again. Interestingly enough the most moving finale coda for me is in the Boulez/Vienna recording which is otherwise good but not one of my favorites. P.S. just I found the finale of the Suitner Bruckner 8th on TH-cam! Extraordinary, magical, flowing and consistently deeply moving . Thanks for the tip, and the many choices to explore.
Perfect for Valentine's day..Bruckner lol
It sure is!
Hilarious!!!! You had me laughing out loud. I watched this right after your take on the 9th. I am going to check out the Suitner and Janowski. My very first experience was with Szell while riding through the Sierra Madre mountains in Michoacan. Since then I've heard many versions. Maazel and Giulini had me leaping about. My ultimate test. Thank you Mr David Hurwitz for your insights and the fun. Jim from Mexico
I so agree about the Maazel, I picked it up for 5 bucks years ago at a media play store. Listening in the car it blew me away. I think Jochums take on the 8th was that he took the first 2 movements faster and lighter than most. Also he I think tried to treat the scherzo as more a true classical scherzo, with a faster tempo for the outer sections. This tended to rob the music of its granduer and inevitable feeling. I always feel, the coda of the finale is the key, if that's not right, the whole journey no matter how good, is let down. Barenboim like Furtwangler always ruined it by accelerating to fast through the end. Good video !
Paul G
My first exposure to Bruckner of any kind was a live recording by Lovro Matacic and the NHK Symphony that I heard over the radio. It held me so powerfully I had to stop my car and wait to hear what the piece was. That was back in the 1980's, and I've so imprinted on that performance that I have a hard time being objective about the others. Very interested to listen to your top 5 someday. Thank you for this video.
I am so grateful to Hurwitz for introducing me to the Otmar Suitner Bruckner 8th. It is superb and I am happy to place it alongside my other favorite 8th including Tennstedt LPO live, Barbirolli live, Furtwangler live and Kubelik live and Wand Cologne live. All my favorite 8th are live. The Suitner belongs with this group in that it never relaxes the tension for a moment in this great symphony. Barbirolli and Furtwangler remain the most impassioned and intense performances that I know but Suitner comes close. Thanks Dave!
I really think of Bruckner as a composer of the Future. Much of his compositions are so fresh and modern. I imagine how he would compose to film, and would feel he would have made a valuable contribution to cinema.
Visconti used the 7th as the soundtrack for his melodramatic film “Senso.”
So happy Maestro Celi made the list! I watched the live recording available on youtube. That finale march, with the timpani, is COLLOSAL! I was afraid you didnt include him because (if im not mistaken) you rarely mentioned him. Thanks for the video David. Certainly will look for the other 9 on the list.
Sure thing, but it's not "Maestro Celi." It's "Wacko Celi!"
Essa gravação é incrível. O scherzo é bem equilibrado. Acho o tímpano o grande diferencial. A partir da letra L no adagio a orquestra cria um momento sublime, é bem transcendental, até explodir com o trombone tocando forte. Os metais tocando forte antes da coda no último movimento também é lindíssimo. E a coda. Só senti falta de ouvir mais as tubas no início da coda. Uma versão com o Gunter Wand mostra melhor o som das tubas nessa parte.
My fave is the live recording by Sergiu Celibidache / Munich Phil (1890 Nowak). Some say his tempi are too slow but I find them just right. Glad you mentioned it, I'll have to try the alternate version you mention! I grew up in the 60's with the Karajan which is very nice too.
His tempi would be too slow with any other conductor, but if one can phrase like Celibidache, generating and holding these long arches of suspense, then they are just right.
At least with composers whose music lends itself to this type of aesthetic, like Bruckner, Schumann, Schubert, Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky (Celibidache with Mozart or Beethoven does not work).
J'ai parcouru grâce à David von Karajan, Wand, Suitner, Janowski, Skrowaczewski, Giulini et Celibidache et je dois dire que Celi est absolument merveilleux dans ceci. La musique coule irresistiblement.
@@greve Je suis complètement d'accord!
I Love Celi's! 1991 and 94's are very special to me.
I love the Giulini/VPO - his adagio captures a sense of gentle exultation that no one else manages (IMHO). Other superb versions by Giulini: live in Berlin (Testament - #1 in BBC Radio 3 "Building a Library" in 2011) and the Philharmonia (BBC Legends). My favourite of these three is the VPO. I agree about Wand and Lubeck. Suitner is a very interesting and surprising tip! Many thanks!
I really like the live Giulini!
The Eight, Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, and Monteverdi's Vespers are amongst my lifetime top 10.
Fabio Luisi deserves a listen - the horns are magnificent.
BUT - did anyone find Suitner available for streaming? I found the 4th and it is AMAZING. Yes, I know the difference between lowercase and uppercase. Now you bet I want Suitner's Eight.
Holy crap. That original ending goes on FOREVER.
Doesn't it?
My favorite is Giulini with VPO, fantastic and tremendous performance.
Why does Giulini have to play everything so slow?? This was his catharsis towards the end of his life.. Too bad. He was a grreat conductor in the 1950s and early 60s.
slow depicts tempo or intensity ？Klemperer slow tempo didn't affects his presentation of grandiose feel.
I will look for the Suitner for sure. My favorites have always been the Celibidache/Munich on EMI and the Wand live in Lubeck Cathedral. You’ve(as always) given food for thought and “new” performances to check out. I’ve heard this symphony live at least 4-5 times with conductors such as Tennstedt, Skrowaczewski, Mehta...I always come back to the Celibidache. It’s not just the broadness of the interpretation, but the impeccable balances and most of all the spirituality that permeates his approach from start to finish. I’d also just mention the Barenboim/Chicago on DG, which is a very good interpretation but it’s the sheer quality of the playing by the CSO that is so stunning.
Great video, Dave, thank you. I was eagerly awaiting this one! I broadly agree with your picks, although I must say I have a soft spot for the very old Jochum-Hamburg on DG (despite the iffy sound and scruffy postwar orchestra), and the Boulez-Vienna in St. Florian. I imprinted on the Karajan-Vienna when I was a teenager, and I was blown away by the Suitner when I bought it, after reading your review on ClassicsToday.
Something I particularly like about Wand's version is that he does a crescendo in the penultimate chord of the Scherzo's main theme (Ab minor with 9th). It sounds great!
Finally, yes! I was looking forward to this, and you delivered as per usual. Got to know the work with the later Karajan, and also love the version of Celibidache. Just ordered the NDR-Wand, looking forward to hearing that special acoustic!
Hope you enjoy it!
Celi's Adagio of B8 is something special. Shimmering as hot air
I just found you and I am stunned!! I will follow you with everything you do. I was a music critic in a small market but heard some great international artists (1990-2000). Memory may fail, but I recall hearing Solti, Chicago do 8th, Carnegie, early 70s. Had a subscription to all they did there for a few years.
Welcome aboard!
I am glad I discovered your videos, Dave. They are both entertaining and informative. A personal favorite Bruckner 8 for me is Boulez.
Welcome! The Boulez is discussed in the comments section. We all seem to agree that Boulez is excellent for various reasons.
Of the Celibidache Bruckner 8ths, I prefer the older one on Deutsche Gramophon with the Stuttgart orchestra. I think it's slow enough to let all the detail and shape come through, but not so slow that it becomes hard to listen to.
I am pleased that Solti didn't find his way into this top ten. I don't like his Bruckner 8th. When he hadn't been mentioned, and number one was coming up, I was gritting my teeth.
There is an unexpectedly decent Bruckner 8th by Mravinsky, of all people. I thought I would hate it, but it's definitely got its moments. It is, predictably, fast.
My favorite has got to be the Solti/CSO, that is definitely the brass player in me speaking. I absolutely love the Celibidache one as well.
This is my favorite Bruckner work. I heard Blomstedt and San Francisco perform this, sitting behind the trumpets. A memorable and thrilling experience.
I do have a soft spot for Chailly’s Concertgebouw recording, for the gorgeous playing and acoustic.
I will get out the Karajan/Vienna recording again to compare. Thanks, David, for the fine recommendations.
I was also at the Karajan/Vienna 8th at Carnegie. It was a loaded occasion, foremost because it was obviously the last time Karajan would travel to NYC. I remember him coming out for bows, looking toward the upper tier seats and waving. It was hard not to take that as goodbye. It was indeed an inspired, intense performance.
You may know already, but a Korean guy has uploaded it on TH-cam. Obviously , less than ideally balanced recording!
@@MorganHayes_Composer.Pianist Do you have a link to it?
@@franzliszt9799 It seems to have been taken down by the TH-cam police ! Hopefully it will make a comeback someday .
I was also there. It was overwhelming.
Dave sounding conciliatory: "I realize there are those who prefer the earlier version..."
Then Dave going in for the kill: "...but they are mentally ill."
Lol.
Well, ya know...
Yes - Dave's right, the rarely-played first version (1887) is bizarre.
There's a very serious performance of that 1887 on video with Welser-Möst / Cleveland. It almost neutralizes some of its wandering effect... but still...
As a self confessed Bruckner fanatic (hiding), I am proud to say I have had all of your top 10 choices for years before I saw this video except Janowski. Bruckner is my favorite conductor, the 8th is the summit and probably my fav symphony of all, and I've been fortunate to see/hear the 8th live a half dozen times (StL and Cincy). Such an emotional piece of music. I envy your Karajan experience!
I completely agree with your high praise for Wand's stunning Lubeck Cathedral live recording with that majestic acoustic adding such atmosphere to the recording. I would probably rank that my #1, and I became a Wand fanboy because of that recording. I also agree re the Karajan Vienna recording, the sound, the circumstances and the best Bruckner orchestra all combining to make virtually a perfect recording. Similar thoughts re Giulini's very profound VPO reading also. I found the Suitner on Berlin years ago, and that is also up there as one of my favorites.
A few of my favorites that you didn't mention would be the Schuricht Vienna from the early 60s on EMI, paired with the 9th. Stunning beautiful and powerful recording with great structure and flow. Also on SACD. I love that recording by the underrated Schuricht. Also, the Eichorn with the Bruckner Linz Orchestra on Camerata label is not as well known and harder to find, but its a spectacular recording with an orchestra that "gets it" and almost rivals the VPO's Bruckner in that dark burnished string tone and excellent brass. An underdog gem.
Also can't go wrong with Bohm and the VPO again, and Chailly with the Concertgebouw.
Love the detailed review, and I do agree the revisions and alternates scholarship does become a tad overdone.
Very grateful to you for drawing our attention to Suitner's 8th. It is all that you say. The performance is fired up and infectiously exciting, no mean feat with such a huge, often slow-moving piece.
Yes ! After you mentioned Wand / Berlin I didn‘t expected it: Wand at the Schleswig-Holstein Musikfestival in Lübeck. I‘m living in Schleswig-Holstein and this was the first time I ever heard this symphony (on television). I was 21 years old. The first release was on EMI/deutsche harmonia mundi. Now I have many other recordings (even Venzago). But this was always my favourite. And the sound is phantastic ! Greetings from Northern Germany !
Kind regards from Northern Germany by me as well.
And Kind Regards from Kopenhagen Dänemark as well! I have owned the Wand/Lübeck recording for about 25 years but failed to find the Zen moment where I can put it on and enjoy it from start till end.
I guess it will be on the Autobahn down south and preferably when I cross the border to Austria.
Kind regards from Shanghai, China! I too own the Lübeck set, which I grabbed from a old CD dealer almost 15 years ago (at the price of only ~7 USD). Oh my, the reverberation is probably nowhere else to be found on CD. How I wish I could listen to this piece by a capable conductor and orchestra in a gigantic gothic church!
Chocolates, strawberries, avocados: oy vey, now I need lunch! I do love the Tintner as I love the whole box set, but I’m certainly not going to argue that ending is the one we need to hear. I think Celibidache’s Bruckner 8ths, both the Sony one in Tokyo and the EMI one in Munich. I know they are long but to me, they have a certain titanic, idiomatic majesty I find utterly absorbing and the absolute
best. I know many find it contemptible, but if you aren’t going to lay things on thick in Bruckner’s 8, where in the whole classical canon? Skro gets the silver for me, in part because that’s perhaps my favorite Bruckner cycle overall. Bronze? What the hay, I’ll go with a conductor rarely associated with Bruckner: Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra. No muss, no fuss, precisely played.
I have the Szell and I like it too. No effort at being pretentious
Bro, I love your channel. So glad I discovered and that you give Rögner some time in these Bruckner videos.
Glad you like them!
@@DavesClassicalGuide A true gem among classical music channels. As a layman with an abiding interest in Bruckner and Mahler, this has been amazing. What did you think of Benjamin Zander’s recent rendition of the 8th with the Boston Symphony?
It’s odd, because I think I understand what the tempo for the finale is *supposed* to be according to Bruckner, and Zander’s explanation was great, but I like the fast interpretations by the likes of Rögner much better. No accounting for my taste, I suppose!
Hi Dave. Just discovered your TH-cam channel a couple of days ago when I watched this segment. I also saw the Skrowaczewski 8th performance with the Baltimore (1980 +/-). Don't remember the tamtam but recall that I thought that the maestro might elevate above the podium at one point during the 3rd movement as his widely open arms moved rather bird-like. The '87 movement 1 coda is so bumbling. I couldn't stop laughing. Keep it coming.
Thank you for all your Bruckner reviews of individual symphonies. Please could you review complete cycles (of "spam" as you call it!)?
Eventually! There are more coming out seemingly every day and it's impossible to keep up with them.
"Skrowaczewski added a tam-tam"
Tampering? TAMPERING? WITH BRUCKNER??!! The Cloistered Council of the Bruckner Brotherhood shall hear of this, and at once. May Bruckner have mercy on your soul.
Dave, what are your thoughts on Celibidache's Bruckner recordings with the Munich Philharmonic? They are certainly perverse in terms of tempo, but I actually love how slow he sets the music, and the richness of the sound is just incredible, unmatched in my opinion!
I like him, much of the time.
Celibidache's Bruckner recordings with the Munich Philharmonic were my introduction to Bruckner years ago. They made me a Bruckner-Celibidache-only addict, except for the 7th symphony where Karajan surpasses the former (for me). It is only after watching Dave's videos about other great Bruckner composers that I began to appreciate different styles of performing these works. But good old Celi is still the one being pumped through the speakers here. Or preferably the headphones, late at night with all the lights off... Instant transportation to the uppermost Bruckner heavens.
i wish i had your energy when talking about bruckner 8 in my day to day life
Thank you for an interesting talk. I love Bruckner's music but all the scholarship gives me hives! You manage to cut through it and make it simple. Just a few ideas for future consideration:
Roussel box on Erato
Pretre Icon box
Poulenc box on Erato
Martinon Late Years box
I've been exploring the 64 cd Cluytens box...a real winner.
Best wishes!
Oh thank you Dave for this review! I know ive been pestering you for Bruckner 8th lately. Finally I'll leave you alone for some rime! I would like to add one to your recommendation: Solti with Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Thanks for reminding me about the Maazel recording. I agree so wholeheartedly about that recording and about Maazel in general! The Boulez/VPO recording is the one on regular rotation on my phone, and it's great, but you've reminded me to go back and listen to the Maazel recording... and it's even better. I was fortunate to see Maazel conduct Bruckner's 8th at the NY Phil in 2008 and it bowled me over, I practically leapt out of my seat at the end. The performance had the same roaring brass and clear articulation as the Berlin PO recording. Other Maazel performances (like when he did Brahms or Dvorak) would infuriate me. The precision in Maazel's technique, and the way he could get orchestras to follow every detail of his sometimes crazy shifts in tempo and dynamics, were unparalleled -- for better or worse. I think he was the most *skilled* conductor I've ever seen, even if the skills were put in service of musical ideas that were sometimes eccentric, to say the least.
Interesting video, merci David ! I would add to my favorite: Bohm with Vienna (DG), and Kegel with Leipzig Radio (the orchestra is not perfect but the intensity, the violence are beyond words).
I bow to your Bruckner expertise, and I respect that you don't care between Haas v Nowak... But, I care, if given the choice... there are two or three moments I love that appear in the Hass that aren't in the Nowak... That being said, you are right, it shouldn't be a big deal... What I absolutely hate concerning the Nowak editions, which ofend me as a trumpeter and musician are 1) the use of key signatures in the Trumpet parts - no trumpet parts of that time ever included key signatures. It is so distracting to transpose parts in F with key sigs. and 2) Rehearsal numbers appearing every 10 bars. These bear no relation to the phrases or sections. Bruckner, who numbered measures based on the phrasing (1-8, 1-10, 1-4, etc..) would have been appalled....
I hear you! However, as you yourself suggest, the fact that you (or I) care doesn't mean that it matters. I prefer Haas too, but I'd rather hear a great performance of Nowak than a tepid one of Haas, and in the end the differences are not significant enough to alter the expressive power of the music (which is not the case as regards 1887). The other notational details you cite don't affect how listeners hear the music.
@@DavesClassicalGuide True. Which is why I still like the Maazel. Fabulous version.
The Wand Lubek Cathedral performance is one I return to frequently. I have a Schuricht 1963 VPO recording on Decca which while the sound is bright in places I find rewarding.
Schuricht recorded the Eighth w/ VPO for EMI, not Decca, on 9-12 December 1963. Produced by Ronald Kinloch Anderson, balance engineer listed as unknown on EMI Classics 1991 2CD reissue (c/w Ninth, 20-22 November 1961). It is a classic.
@@MisterOE3 yes, got the label wrong on a mixed set.
Originally the Suitner recording came out on ETERNA in East Germany, on LP. It's absolutely sublime.
Recently I got a recording by BPO with Zubin Mehta on BPO's own label. It is along with Karajan's my favourite 👌
Szell and Cleveland, recorded October 1969: beyond comparison. And I’m even playing in the cello section!
Then you should recuse yourself.
You can only dream what it's like to sit in the middle of a great orchestra, with a great conductor, and play a work like that. I know.
As a corollary to my earlier comment, I like the recordings by the Cleveland Orchestra conducted by Szell and Dohnanyi, The playing in both performances is stunning, with marvelous rhythmic acuity and clarity abetted by hefty sonorities where called for.
I love the Karajan/VPO recording. I recently bought the live 1978 Karl Böhm Tonhalle Zurich recording. I enjoy it, as well, but Karajan will always be my favorite.
Oxford University Orchestra (OUO) was initially going to do Bruckner 9 with Remy Ballot next month, but THANK GOD he changed the programme! I was told that Remy would like to take 85 minutes! Surely that would include a finale realisation, right? WRONG! 85 minutes is without the finale! Ballot would have out-Celibidached Celibidache himself! Also, allegedly, Ballot insisted on some weird disciplinary practices for students if they were to do Bruckner 9, which I don't even know or care about. Instead, OUO will do Schubert 8 (yet another unfinished symphony), Ravel's Mother Goose and Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade.
My favourite version of Bruckner 8 is the Munich Philharmonic with Celibachedi conducting and the late great Peter Sadlo playing the timpani
The von Karajan is always going to be my favorite. Okay, von Karajan and Schuricht! 🎶🎵🎼
Listening to the Skrowaczewski Bruckner 8 Adagio and it's making my spine tingle within 4 minutes, just magical. Interesting compared to yesterday when I listened to Haitink's Philips Concertgebouw go at the same movement, and I was perplexed. It had no identifiable shape, just block by boring block, the climax just arrives & is not the destination, it's just another block. Listening to the Skrowaczeski as I write this, there's just absolutely no comparison. And then watched this video of you saying Haitink just didn't get this symphony in his early recordings. You're not kidding.
Love the video! Never occurred to me to connect Bruckner version(s) with avocados! Great! Makes sense! "Hass"
I will continue to explore recordings I've not heard. Thanks for the recommendations!
As others have commented, I've been waiting for this review and it is a gas! Another (somewhat surprising) fine version is Solti's in the Eloquence/VPO Bruckner box. Now, how about an overview of the best (and definitely the worst) Bruckner cycles/sets. And while you're at it, there are the Myaskovsky symphonies. . .
No, there aren't!
The Suitner is on TH-cam. He was another one of those wonderful conductors you've never heard of.
Thanks for the recommendations! So far, my favorite is the Celibidache live (Sony-) recording, followed by the late recording with Karajan. However, with Karajan I am a little disappointed with the coda of the finale, which seems a bit too fast and not gigantic to me. Who shouldn't be recommended as the first choice for Bruckner's 8th Symphony is the live recording with Barbirolli. At first I didn't like it that much, because it doesn't have the size and grandeur of the other recordings. But now I like it a lot because of the glowing passion. It is by no means boring and for lovers of the 8th Symphony it should be an enrichment.
Dave, I bought the Karajan/VPO recording of the Bruckner 8th shortly after it was originally released, and I loved it. It was on 2 CDs. Now I see that DG has reissued it as one of their "The Originals" recordings. Other than fitting it on to one CD, did DG improve the sound in any way?
I don't know. I haven't heard that particular issue.
I just got the single disk version reviewed here. There is no comparison between the muddy old 2 disk version and the new version on one disk which is far superior. Go buy the new version --- it is wonderful.
Honestly, I don’t give a hoot for Bruckner, but Dave, I watch your channel 'cause you make me laugh!
I think that's an excellent reason, and a big compliment. Thank you.
Dave your right! This is GREAT STUFF!!!!
To van Beinum and Giulini I would add (strange as it may sound) Boulez/Vienna.The only Bruckner I've ever heard him do and it's stunning. Also, an honorable mention goes to Horenstein/Vienna Pro Musica Orchestra, even if the sonics could be better.
Bought the Suitner recording and it is everything you said it was. I don't think I could listen to any other performance.
Great choices! Every one you recommended is one of my favorites and already on my shelf with one exception: The Suitner, which sits on Amazon for over $900, so I'll wait to hear that until it gets reissued or I find it at a reasonable price. Some of the special Bruckner 8ths that I felt deserved a mention (your feeling on these?): Horenstein on BBC, Szell, Giulini/BPO live on Testament, Schuricht/VPO, and one I bought based on your glowing review: Bohm live on Palexa. My top 3 BTW would would be VPO/Karajan, Wand/BPO, and Szell/Cleveland. (Ask me next week and it will probably change slightly!)
I have all of those others. As you can see, they did not make my top 10.
David, you were at the Carnegie Karajan Bruckner 8? Wow... Envy. I've heard so many stories. I have friends in the orchestra who still talk about that performance. Do you know the Audio version of the concert on TH-cam?
No, I don't, and won't.
@@DavesClassicalGuide
why thats interesting to me would it destroy the magic listening again or whats the deal
Delighted to see Van Beinum in your list (that scherzo!)
Thank you for another terrific talk! Super interesting!
Not that it is necessary to rank music in lists, however, if I would, Bruckner’s Eight could well be the greatest of all symphonies. A friend of mine has 90+ versions but myself I have less than ten. Haitink RCO, Haitink Dresden, Celibidache München, Furtwängler Wien 1944, Abendroth, Horenstein, van Beinum, Knappertsbusch Berlin 1951, I think that’s it. I realise I have been buying lots of historical recordings. Another thing: solo instrumental performances have a prominent place in my listening habits and collection as well. I haven’t dug so deeply into the mass of recordings of symphonic repertoire, I have been too busy listening to solo pianists of the past, like Edwin Fischer, Rachmaninov, Cortot and Lili Kraus. In their cases I needn’t doubt for a second wether the sacrifice of a crisp stereo sound is worth it or not. In orchestral recordings I’ve only sporadically made any slightly deeper research in multiple versions of one piece. Anyway, in Bruckner 8 my favourite remains Furtwängler in Vienna 1944.
Cheers
Mikko Lindgren
"Greatest of all symphonies?" Silly!
Of course it is. What is the point of us having this conversation anyway?
David discussed the confusing Bruckner editions very clearly. I found Bohm with VPO is also a very convincing recording. It contains the tension and distinctive beauty that the eight demands. I am a little sad this recording doesn't get attention as much as his fourth.
Two small notes. In addition to the (one of the) Gunter Wand recording in a cathedral there is also at least a video of a performance by von Karajan and the VPO in a large Cathedral, I think it's Melk, though I'm not certain. Easily findable on TH-cam. I don't know if this performance - from 1979 - ever appeared on disc. And speaking of percussion extrapolations, von Karajan uses two timpanists on two sets of timpani to play the long rolls in the coda. I've never seen or heard anyone else do that - thought it does make some sense. I also don't know if its the same recording that Mr. Hurwitz admires so much - but there's a Bruckner's 8th conducted by Suitner with the SK Berlin - also on TH-cam. It states that its from studio recording sessions from 1986 and 1987; Now that it's so highly recommended, I'm going to listen!
It's a great performance, but I'm not sure about the sound, it sounds like it was recorded in a tin can.
Just a note that my copy of NDR/Wand is on EMI, but seems to be the same recording from Lübeck Cathedral. The recording date(s) are specified as August 22nd and 23rd, 1987. It’s pretty wonderful.
The back of the Lübeck 8th CD says that it was recorded "in a full public rehearsal and two concerts on 24th, 25th and 28th June [1988] in Lübeck Cathedral". Going by that, the EMI would be a different recording; I'm sure it's great, though... Wand usually was in this symphony!
@@ftumschk Thank you! I had wondered about just such a possibility, and that's why I posted the information. What treat to have such wonderful music, and to have it performed so well.
@@davidgoodman6538 RCA messed up the blurb on the back of the CD cases for some of their Wand Lubeck 8 and Lubeck 9 "cathedral cover art" releases. In the faulty batch, the performance and recording dates of the 9th are discussed on the back of the CD case of the 8th, and vice versa. There is only one recording of each symphony by Wand in that cathedral as far as I know: the 8th in 1987 and 9th in 1988.
@@bluto32 Thank you. Who would ever know to suspect that the documentation would be incorrect.
I love your videos David, keep safe..
Thanks for the great list!
Just one additional suggestion, I'm usually not a Boulez fan but his recording with the Wiener Phil is just out of this world - at least to my perhaps undistinguised ears.
Already discussed in these comments, multiple times.
i go most often to the dg originals (1 disc!) vienna karajan... but the tokyo celibidache and the lubeck wand are where i find the most endearing beauty and power and life...
We can be thankful for the number of fine recordings of the 8th. Have always liked the Haitink 8th on Philips. The 1981 digital recording with the Concertgebow. His digital Bruckner 9th with the same orchestra is equally as good.
No, they're not. Nine is good, although not as good as his analogue recording, but Eight is poorly recorded and emotionally tepid.
Ok. I’ll go back and re listen.
Skrowaczewski performance has always been my favorite fir Bruckner’s Eighth (as well as Brahms’ Fourth) I have not heard the Suitner or the Wand Lubeck Cathedral (whose Bruckner performances I usually enjoy) but I will find both and give them a listen. Another performance you did not mention that I really enjoy, especially the first two movements, is Tennstedt and LSO. I was curious if you are familiar with it and, if so, you like it. Thank you as always, and I look forward to hearing a couple of new (to me) performances this Bruckner masterpiece.
I know the Tennstedt well, and find it thoroughly second rate. Sorry!
It makes me sad because I really believe LSO has the right sound for Bruckner, no there are no good performances with them, and I blame the conductors and not the ensemble. I feel like Tennstedt doesn’t understand the adagio or finale movements. The performance is sort of like that Kubrick/Spielberg movie A.I. where the first half was outstanding but the second half stunk.
@@rbmelk7083 The Tennstedt studio 8th on EMI/Warner is with the London Philharmonic, not the LSO.
Quite correct... I will edit the comment so we have the right info out there.
The timpani at the beginning of the finale of Maazel's recording make the argument for the "apocalyptic" label.
I was waiting for you to mention Horenstein, which I have on LP and enjoy, and which you favorably reviewed as a set.
They are not among the best, good as they are.
@@DavesClassicalGuide I beg to differ. I have 15 versions of this symphony on CD and DVD. My favourite is Horenstein’s live Prom with the LSO. It has the finest timpani playing (by the great Kurt-Hans Gödicke) that I have ever heard. His playing in the scherzo drives the music forward with a thrilling momentum that has to be heard to be believed.
@@antwerpsmerle1404 I've heard it and I don't believe it. Seriously. I agree that it's very good, just not as good as other options available today. Like what you please--that's fine with me.
@@antwerpsmerle1404 Agreed, the Horenstein live Prom performance is sensational. But one is spoilt for choice with this symphony.
What are your thoughts on Tennstedt’s live recording with the London Philharmonic? It’s one of my favourites, it’s faster than average and has one of the most exciting endings I’ve heard.
I like it, but I like most Tennstedt performances. He did a number of excellent Bruckner 8's with other orchestras including the NDR, Boston SO, Berliner Phil, Chicago SO, and The Philadelphia Orchestra.
@@leestamm3187
I remember being at the box office in Symphony Hall in Boston one Thursday afternoon in 1974 to buy tickets for something else, when someone came up to me and offered a seat at Tennstedt's Bruckner 8 which was going to be performed that night. I went and was sufficiently bowled over that I listened on radio the next day to the afternoon performance, then went back to the box office and got a ticket to the Saturday evening concert... which was the best of all. I still remember Joseph Silverstein smiling broadly at Alfred Krips in satisfaction at how well the violins had aced the slow movement. Then I followed up with a trip to Tanglewood the following summer, but that time the magic seemed lost. Maybe it was just that the Tanglewood shed couldn't duplicate the intensity of the Symphony Hall acoustic.
This might get me into trouble around here but... Boulez!
No, the Boulez is excellent--a very pleasant surprise.
'I will learn more from the Vienna Philharmonic than they will learn from me.' P.B. Marvelous performance. But is there a V.P. performance of Bruckner 8 that is not fabulous? I have yet to hear one.
@@sbor2020 : A rare and admirable moment of humility from Mr. P.B., who otherwise uttered publicly such bon mots as "Anyone who has not adopted the dodecaphonic method of composition is irrelevant" and "First we blow up all the opera houses" (and I do not even like opera that much--- at least, playing it can be exasperating... but considering its role as an integral and important component of Western musical culture, destroying the opera houses seems rather arrogant). Still, difficult to argue with the fact he probably had the best ears in the business, even if a detailed analysis of his massive recorded legacy (cannot, alas, remember where I first read that) indicates that he was nowhere near as faithful to the texts of the works he conducted as had often been claimed. An intriguing figure, to be sure... Still, a great Bruckner 8 is its own justification.^^
In parting, though, I cannot help setting the cats among the pigeons, as it were. While acknowledging that the revised 1890 version is superior (particularly the Scherzo, and the glorious trio thereof with the remarkable harp-writing), I have a great fondness for the loud 1887 first-movement coda, and I am glad certain conductors have preserved that for our consideration.
[Lamentably, I was a year too late gaining admission to the NYOC (National Youth Orchestra of Canada) to be able to work with Maestro Tintner in his last year with the ensemble, 1989. In 1983, he had given the North American premiere of the 1887 version in various Canadian cities on tour, and recorded it as well, though said recording is now out of print.]
Hi David, could you please tell us the barcode of the Suitner version? I have not been able to find the recording anywhere. Thank you so much for your funny videos !!
See my review at ClassicsToday.com.
what do you think about Blomstedt with Gewandhaus? I never heard the recording but I played this symphony with Mr. B. himself and it was a life-changing experience, I'm curious to see why he didn't make it on the list.
I think it's rather dull.
In addition to the Ormandy Box (120 cds-mono era) that has a release date of April 21 (in Japan? in Europe?) There are 2 other boxes coming- Previn Warner Box- EMI and Teldec 96 discs, and Abbado/ LSO etc. on DG 46 discs...I'm guessing there's no Bruckner 8th in any of those boxes which is ok by me. Dave, what's the latest on these new releases?
I have no idea. You know as well as I do.
I was hoping you would mention Michael Gielen's SWR recording on Hänssler, just to talk about the Morton Feldman "Coptic Light" coupling.
Isn't that the 1887 version?
@@Sulsfort Oh fiddleshit.
My take on 1887 is this: With his ridiculous outburst at the end of the first movement (in major), it's as though Bruckner is saying, "OK folks, all the obligatory, minor-keyed 'sturm und drang' stuff is over with. Let's party!". . . . Perhaps Bruckner was wanting to relive his youth with that earlier version. By the way, I love your picks.
Dear David, what do you think about the Inbal recording?
Blech!
@@DavesClassicalGuide you are clear as always! Thank you!
When I first listened to these recommendations I went and listened to virtually all of them on Spotify or TH-cam. At first I couldn't understand why you rated Maazel so highly --to me it seemed a performance totally lacking in character. What a fool I was. Now I realized that it was just that the recording had low volume (on Spotify at least). I turned up the volume and goodness, what a splendid performance this is! Perfectly proportioned as you say. I'll have to listen to it a few more times in order to decide if it's my new favourite, but in any event it's now in my top three together with Skrowaczewski/Saarbrücken and Wand/NDR (Lübeck), my two other favorites. So thank you very much Dave for this recommendation (and for the other two I mentioned as well, which I also got to via this video when I was new to Bruckner).
You're very welcome. Thank you for persisting!
Wand's live in Luebeck was once my favorite although sometimes the trumpets may be a little bit harsh, until I found a special version on which to my surprise I saw no discussion here. It was the legendary Celibidache with MPO live in Lisboa 1994. This recent official release from a Japanese label is even better than the SONY Live in Tokyo version. I'm not a Christian but I think I can imagine angels leading to the gate of the heaven when listening to the coda of the finale.
If my memory does not fail me, my first introduction to Bruckner at a concert hall was the 7th by Jesús López Cobos conducting the Spanish National Orchestra. About 12 days before getting married (November 1989) I heard that same symphony conducted by Sergiu Celibidache and the Münchner Philharmoniker. While the judge (ours was a civil wedding) was asking me if I knew what I was about to do, I had passages of the 1st or 2nd movement going through my head, enough to stop the emotion from getting the better of me. Since then, I got to see Celi conduct the 3rd (twice), 4th and 8th. There is no Bruckner like his. He conducted 99 concerts in Spain and I was at nine of them. I have his complete (barring the 1st, 2nd, zero and double zero) set released by EMI and pirate (or bootleg) recordings of the 4th and 9th, 5th and 8th with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra and the 7th by one of the RAI orchestras. The one issue I have with Celi is the fact that not once did he bring me to tears (recordings do not affect me in the same way as live performances). Unlike Mahler, Bruckner does not quite move me enough.
Hi David, I just listened to your recommended recording. Found it on TH-cam. I can see why you chose it. It's got great character about it. Sounds like it's a live recording with the audience noise reduced. Don't quote me on that. Slightly ragged around the edges, but that's what gives it it's character. Certainly exciting in the finale. I'm just amazed how so many different performances of Bruckner make it sound like a different composer sometimes. I have the Gunter wand version with the NDR, I like the sound from that one, even though his tempi are generally leisurely. Thanks, enjoyable video..
Günter Wand/Lübeck is extraordinary - it sounds like he has about 20 double basses. But it's the quieter moments that really stay in the mind. Karajan 1988 I have mixed feelings about. There is that inner glow and the Vienna strings cover themselves in glory, but listening to it now, I find the ensemble lapses in the slow movement troubling. The live performance DG/Unitel recorded in St. Florian has Karajan's best first movement I would say - the trumpets blasting out the Hauptrhythmus at the climax has a ferocity that just isn't there in his other recordings. Giulini I have always loved for his big-picture approach and the way he makes everything sing. I want to put in a good word for the Sinopoli/Dresden Staatskapelle - gloriously played and for the most part, Sinopoli gets out of the way. I don't know the Suitner and look forward to hearing it.
Dear pawdaw: I join my voice to praise the Sinopoli. His handling of the coda is superb.
Dave - greetings from the Penal Colonies. Congratulations on your ursine "BBBRRRUUUCCCKKKNNNEEERRR" which is your best ever. Thank you too for being astute in (a) your dismissal of Jochum EMI and DG (V2) and your championing of Maazel with the Berlin Phil which is a fabulous recording as you rightly say. On my part, Karajan's 1944 account of the finale in stereo is my equivalent of your Carnegie Hall experience. Best wishes and keep up the great work - B
Only the Penal Colonies would mention that Karajan recording. I actually have it. Sounds awful and it’s not even the complete symphony.
@@frankgyure3154 All those other reviewers of '44 must be wrong too.
Bernard, your 5-star review of the Wand Lubeck Cathedral Bruckner 8 has vanished from the ol' Amazon. I suspect they have deleted the product listing and thus the review. Do you have a copy of it still?
@@bwpm1467 Matthew, thanks for letting me know. For what my thoughts are worth - not much - Amazon has been taking a dim view of the more polemical side of my reviews. I have reinstated the one in question, even if I cannot remember how I concluded it. If the censor bestows an imprimatur on it, it should appear in 24 hours. This is Dave's turf whose boundaries I respect - I wont table it, much to the relief of some! With immense thanks, B
@@bernardohanlon3498 Thank you, Bernard. Good to be able to read it again. I do so enjoy your work.
The Otmar Suitner 8th is available here on good old YT.
Maybe I missed it, but Tennstedt with the bso and later in Europe is the Bruckner 8 for me. I heard it live in Boston Symphony Hall and it is the supreme symphonic experience of my life. A version not well record ed is on TH-cam.
The commercial release isn't so hot either.
I've been an admirer of your posts and was particularly looking forward to your views on this work. I very much agree that life is too short to get hung up on Nowak or Haas in this work. I also agree that Suitner's recording is my favourite. I also like Haitink's live recording with the Dresden Staatskapelle. Tennstedt's live recording with the BPO is another favourite of mine.
A couple of years ago I rearranged my work schedule in London to get back to Edinburgh in time for a performance of Bruckner 8. I was assuming 1890 as a particular edition had not been advertised - and this is well known to be a piece where edition really matters. Performance started and it rapidly became clear that it was the 1887. Interested in Dave H's comment about the original scherzo not being very dynamically varied - I walked out and went home to listed to Scrowaczewski midway through the scherzo, as I thought it was just a lousy performance as well as being the wrong edition.
Can someone write the recommended versions? For use by those who don't know English...
Almost a lecture on a mighty Bruckner's 8, thank you! I have a question though. I know you said there is no point in comparing Haas and Nowak but it seems that Haas edition doomed to oblivion since none of the young conductors would play it, everyone prefers Nowak as the ultimate 'true' version. Is it a real thing or not so?
Yes, because current Bruckner scholarship insists on methodological grounds that Haas is unacceptable (and he was a Nazi, which never helps). Then they go and do the same thing (or worse) that Haas did. It's very unfortunate.
I enjoyed listening to this, as it was informed, instructive (The demonstration of why the 1890 version is superior is excellent.) and wonderfully subjective. This symphony is my favourite one, and I have quite a collection of recordings with it, including everyone mentioned here. Yes, even Venzago. But i bought it in a record shop in Vienna for 4 Euro, listened to it once and put it away. And those notes to it by the conductor are really borderline insane. My own favourite, Kurt Eichhorn with Bruckner Orchester Linz didn't even qualify for the final heat, but it is a crowded field and to each their own. Suitner is excellent too, and so are indeed the nine others mentioned as well. David has a point in that some Bruckner enthusiasts goes too far, even if he may exaggerate a bit. Anyway, it is true that Carraghan unfortunately has created a monster. I believe though, that Schaller has the intention to record virtually any version of Bruckner's symphonies existing, so I hope he will eventually turn his attention to the good one as well. There is one thing though I can't approve of, and that is calling Remy Ballot an idiot. So he takes his sweet time, and as far as I know he studied for a while under Celibidache,. This Gramola recording of his differs about one minute from Celibidache's on EMI, so Cobra he aint. Perhaps it is my increasing tinnitus, but I see nothing particularly inept with his conduction either, perhaps one should rather commend him for making an orchestra with so young musicians play this well. And well they play. But again, to each their own. And it is not my favourite either. I prefer a more Austrian, earthbound Bruckner to the saintly version.
Ballot really is an idiot--or perhaps I should say a tasteless fool. Celi would be spinning in his grave. His tempos may not be much slower, but they sound about ten times as long owing to the slack rhythms and flat phrasing, the sonics are dreadful, and the orchestra of kids sounds, well, hardly world class. This was a school exercise that ought never to have been issued. You're obviously a discerning listener, and probably a lot nicer than I am, but Ballot is disgusting--objectively.
@@DavesClassicalGuide Thanks for a well argued answer. I see your points, I will take them up to consideration. Perhaps it is my emotional attachment to this recording which clogs my judgement, considering the way I got it. In any case, I will re-listen to when convenient. Keep up the good work and all the best.
@@lennarttangen5653 There's nothing wrong with emotional attachment. If it gives you joy, then enjoy it. Please just keep in mind that your only responsibility is to say what you like best, whereas mine is to try to suggest what others will like based on real-time comparisons of dozens of available versions. Of course this is filtered through the lens of my own personal taste and experience, but it's a very different perspective, and one that I take very seriously. So I am not suggesting that you should give up on a favorite, merely because I don't like it.
@@DavesClassicalGuide No problem. It is not my favourite by far,. I think I have listened to it twice. I am not a fan of Celibidache either, for that matter. But this recording reminds me of a person who was very dear to me and by whom I received this very recording. That is the emotional part. I still don't think Ballot is an idiot, I just don't like his style. Too schleppend, as it is...Anyway, life is to short for bickering about anything, and I have most recordings worth it name for this symphony.
Thank you for the video! Loved and shared your opinions on 1887/90, as well as Nowak/Haas and silliness surrounding everything about Bruckner.
I wondered if you have heard Sir John Barbirolli's recording, made in 1970 (the year he died) with the Hallé Orchestra. I'm in love with the astonishing energy he pulls out of the scherzo (and how the mad tempo actually works wonderfully!).
Hope you can give me your opinion about that. Keep going on with your videos!