The Skrowaczewski cycle on Oehms made me a fan. It's a beautifully played and recorded set.

 

At some point you need to hear what Celibidache did with Bruckner in his live recordings with the Munich Philharmonic. The 7th is perhaps the weakest of the bunch but most of them are revelatory. He is slow and draws the music out to heavenly lengths (some think perversely so) but for me his method works wonderfully. And, for the 5th, an amazing intense recording by Jochum with the Concertgebouw. And, really, you have to hear Furtwangler!

I also usually enjoy Wand's Bruckner.

 

Thanks Enthusiast. Love Jochum and the Concertgebouw is my favorite orchestra. Going to get that one.

 

I know it's not a popular opinion these days, but I still think Karajan was one of the great Bruckner conductors we've ever had. Add to that a great orchestra and this set is a winner. And now that you can get it all on one Blu Ray disk for under $40 it's a great bargain.

 

I know it's not a popular opinion these days, but I still think Karajan was one of the great Bruckner conductors we've ever had. Add to that a great orchestra and this set is a winner. And now that you can get it all on one Blu Ray disk for under $40 it's a great bargain.
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Not a popular option with certain sections of PC critics who like to Poo Poo success but I'd say HvK's performances still hold up to most competition. I'd also add these:

 

Thanks guys. What about non-symphonies? I ordered Jochum’s Masses and the Harnoncourt box with 3, 4, 7 and 8, because his 5th and 9th are absolutely incredible.

 

Thanks guys. What about non-symphonies? I ordered Jochum's Masses and the Harnoncourt box with 3, 4, 7 and 8, because his 5th and 9th are absolutely incredible.

If you like the masses then don't overlook Jochum's recording of the Te Deum, coupled with a setting of Psalm CL and ten motets for unaccompanied choir.

 

If you haven't already, the completed 9th. I suggest the 2nd (or is it 3rd) Gerd Schaller recording of his own completion. As to Celibidache, his view is an unusual one and not one that I would recommend to someone just getting into Bruckner.

 

... As to Celibidache, his view is an unusual one and not one that I would recommend to someone just getting into Bruckner.

Quite a few people say that but I have never understood it. Why wait? I am not sure I liked Bruckner so much until I had heard Celibidache. It's different but it communicates and is heavenly - great music making. I don't think you need to be an experienced Brucknerian to relate to it. Not at all.

 

I would second the recommendation of Skrowaczewski's Symphony set.

Away from the symphonies this disc of a couple of his chamber works is well worth investigating:

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for High-octane Bruckner - Solti/CSO....huge dynamic contrasts, incredible sonorities that [I think] Bruckner would have loved..the climaxes are amazing....Solti keeps it moving....too often Bruckner gets too slow, logy, episodic...it becomes disconnected and bogs down....Barenboim's earlier set with Chicago is excellent, and superbly recorded...
Walter is the standby - his 4,7,9 are classics...
if you can find them - von Matacic/CzechPO produced some excellent Bruckner as well...lively, connected - excellent 7, 9.

 

In terms of 'other works' it's really only the symphonies. Maybe some like the choral and other vocal works and the quartet/sextet and the other bits and pieces, but it's really only the symphonies. I like the three orchestral pieces + march in D minor as little Beethovenian 'sketches' for what was to come.

I had old Karajan recordings of Bruckner which kinda bored me when I was getting into Bruckner. There have been better recordings made since then. Or at least ones with less gloss. I don't know how to describe it. I like Klemperer and Haitink and Chailly's version of the 6th.

 

I have the Sinopoli/Dredsen incomplete set which is available only in Japan, and it has the distinction of having the best IMO (5th) and the worst IMO (9th) recording in the same box set, a feat I do not expect anyone else to repeat.

I only have Harnoncourt's 9th (Wiener) but from that I can see he is an exceptional Bruckner interpreter. I have always wanted to listen to (or watch) his 5th on DVD.

The great thing about Bruckner is that his music is open-ended enough to allow for diverse interpretations. Celibidache brought out his spirituality being the most obvious. Jochum showed us he is a genius, Karajan painted a landscape of the Austrian Alps, and Wand, a human/mortal/hero in life's struggles in the Beethovenian tradition.

 

I have the Sinopoli/Dredsen incomplete set which is available only in Japan, and it has the distinction of having the best IMO (5th) and the worst IMO (9th) recording in the same box set, a feat I do not expect anyone else to repeat.

Does anyone else feel the same way about Sinopoli's 9th?

 

I've never heard any other recordings of the motets so I may well look into your suggestions. Do these other recordings use a smaller choir?

 

I'm not sure of the choir size. But to me, the lack of vibrato makes a world of difference. The same is true with the second mass; that one needs all the lines to be clear, and vibrato doesn't work as well there. It may just be a personal preference.

 

...Now, I like every sub-genre of classical music - opera, chamber, choral, all of it. So if you all have other Bruckner recordings and works you would recommend, I would appreciate it....

Great to hear you got into Bruckner. After many other recordings, including Celibidache, Karajan, Jochum, Haitink and Harnoncourt (who is indeed great in Bruckner), I got to prefer the recordings that Gunter Wand made of a few symphonies with the Berlin Philharmonic for RCA, now in a box. Absolutely great to hear. All the great ones are there: 4,5,7,9.
From separate recordings you might also give a try to Abbado's 9th with the Lucerne Orchestra on DG. Also Karajan's 7 and 8th with the Wiener Philharmoniker are somewhat special. All three conductors happen to have recorded their best Bruckners at the end of their life.... A recent ongoing Bruckner cycle that is worth exploring is Andris Nelsons on DG with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig.

If you mean to ask for further advice on other composers, a logical follow up after Bruckner would be Mahler. Did you try his music already? A good way to get to know Mahler would be a full set of his symphonies and Lieder cycles, where I would recommend Boulez on DG or Chailly on Decca (no Lieder with Chailly however). Also, if you like chamber music and perhaps songs with piano, I would advise to try Hugo Wolf, both for his song cycles and for his string quartet and Italian serenade. As to his songs, you could try Peter Schreier. A nice find post Bruckner would be the Gurrelieder by Schoenberg, a massive oratorio, which ends in a generous hymn to the sun. Chailly, Abbado and Robert Craft (cheap release on Naxos) each delivered very good recordings.

Happy exploring!

 

Another set I find outstanding

And this one

 

And this one

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That was my gateway into Bruckner. Somehow Tintner's conducting made the composer make sense, at least to me.

 

Love Bruckner but to get used to his compositions, I listen to same one a few times until it sticks, then end up loving them. Symphony no 4 is my favourite and I wonder how anyone cannot love it like I do?

 

I just want to congratulate you Gellio. It is a commitment to dwell into every CM subgenre and a symphonist such as Bruckner can be a love or hate at first listen.

I will just suggest you that if you want to travel through this composer fairly well, I would not listen to any people's advice in this thread. Not even myself. I've have a love-hate relationship with some cycles and conductors massively reccomended for this composer; plus a couple of regrettable purchases. The same old reccomendations have been made here. Yet again many seem to come from a ranking point of view where some conceptions of Bruckner are more or less accurate than others, and I'm specially meaning those who put musicology over interpretation and performance.

It's been years since I listened to Harnoncourt's Bruckner. It didn't stand out then but my methods for comparison were fairly inoperative and biased by the Berliner sound over anything. It's nice that you have a first experience you can relate with Bruckner. Mine was Karajan, but I could escape from it. This composer can leave a huge mark on people. Make of your quest something personal, if you ever dare to go through it.

 

I bought the Karajan Symphony Edition for only C$56, which includes all of the Bruckner Symphonies, in addition to Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky... A total of 38 CDs. I did not know the mastering status of the Bruckner portion, but at that price I certainly got more than my money's worth.

 

From my comparison of some parts of the original CDs with the new hirez version, the improvement is subtle, not a game changer.

 

Bongartz/Leipzing Gewandhaus Orchestra for # 6, Giulini/Chicago for # 9

 

Thanks all. I got the Jochum box with the Masses, Motets, Psalm 150, Te Deum. The Harnoncourt with 3, 4, 7 and 8 comes tomorrow. YAY.

I love Harnoncourt. His Schubert is other-worldly and he's the only conductor I've ever heard conduct the 4th that makes you think, "ok, now I get why Schubert called it his Tragic Symphony.

Harnoncourt's Brucker No. 9 and No. 5 are amazing. I like them better than Jochum's, but not by much. My three favorite composers are Beethoven, Mozart, and Schubert. While Harnoncourt blows me away in Schubert, he fails me in Beethoven and Mozart. I can't wait to hear the rest of his Bruckner.

 

I'm also quite a Harnoncourt fan. I wonder which of his Schubert sets you have - the first one with the Concertgebouw or the later one with the Berlin Philharmonic? If you haven't heard the Berlin one you are in for a treat one day. I do quite like his Bruckner - he seems to humanise it, where others go for building huge monoliths.

 

Both. I got the Berlin one because of Alfonso und Estrella and the Masses. Admittedly, I haven't given the symphonies much of a listen, because the Concertgebouw recording is so amazing, but now I will.

 

I agree about Harnomcourt's Schubert, Enthusiast.

Good

Even better......

 

I agree about Harnomcourt's Schubert, Enthusiast.

Good
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Even better......
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Really? I have both but the Concertgebouw is so great and any reviews I've read said it was by far the better, so I haven't given the symphonies on the Berlin set a fair go. Would love your thoughts.

 

I was unimpressed by Bruckner - except for Walter's 9th - until Furtwangler's 8th got my attention, and I have both DG and EMI sets by Celibidache, but ultimately it is the recordings of Knappertsbusch that win me over. Critics will say his versions are wrong, and the sound is terrible, but I don't care...

I think the 5th might be my second favorite, behind the 8th... so I gotta hear that Harnoncourt... who may not be unlike Kna is some respects...

 

I was unimpressed by Bruckner - except for Walter's 9th - until Furtwangler's 8th got my attention, and I have both DG and EMI sets by Celibidache, but ultimately it is the recordings of Knappertsbusch that win me over. Critics will say his versions are wrong, and the sound is terrible, but I don't care...

I think the 5th might be my second favorite, behind the 8th... so I gotta hear that Harnoncourt... who may not be unlike Kna is some respects...

Harnoncourt's 5th is amazing. His whole Bruckner is.

 

When you've explored Bruckner, Rautavaara's 3rd Symphony in the Naxos recording might be of interest too; it is partly Bruckner-inspired (Anton's 4th symphony in particular) and along similar lines.

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7952165--rautavaara-cantus-arcticus

 

Here's an amazing 5th with Günter Wand and the NDR Sinfonieorchester.
I've listened to it dozens of times in the last couple of months.

 

Don't know how will do the Thielemann videos, but watching a Bruckner concert by Günter Wand is always a pleasure. Frail image but a very clear leader. I really prefer the 8th in SH Festival, but it's so great the NDR made all the old DVDs available on Youtube

 

Ok, I listened to the Harnoncourt Berlin recordings today, well 4, 5, 8 and 9. Concertgebouw recordings are way better IMO. The 8th on the Berlin set is way too slow. I agree with any reviews I’ve read on the Berlin set, which basically said “if you have the earlier set don’t bother.”

 

Ok, I listened to the Harnoncourt Berlin recordings today, well 4, 5, 8 and 9. Concertgebouw recordings are way better IMO. The 8th on the Berlin set is way too slow. I agree with any reviews I've read on the Berlin set, which basically said "if you have the earlier set don't bother."

I couldn't agree less! To my ears the Concertgebouw set is good but a little dour (which doesn't suit the early symphonies so well). The Berlin set is a delight - more radical and sparkles as well. I am not sure what reviews you have read as I think most professional critics who I have read see the Berlin set as something special and the Concertgebouw as one of many good ones.

 

Boulez/VPO's 8th was IMO at least in the top 3 if not the best outright. Boulez was not renowned for Bruckner and did not do Bruckner much, but he had the most electrifying finale on record.

I was really fond of Tennstedt's 4th with BPO and I literally played it so much that I broke the disc. Again Tennstedt's Bruckner was very incomplete, but when he did it he always did it well.