More or less, I think...

No. 1 - Haitink/Concertgebouw (Philips)
No. 2 - Suitner/Tokyo [live] (King International)
No. 3 - Wand/Köln (RCA)
No. 4 - Klemperer/Philharmonia (EMI)
No. 5 - Harnoncourt/Wiener Phil (RCA/BMG)
No. 6 - Gielen/SWR Orchester (Hänssler)
No. 7 - Rosbaud/SWF Baden-Baden (Vox)
No. 8 - Haitink/Concertgebouw (1981) (Philips)
No. 9 - Bernstein/Wiener Phil (DG)

Study Symphony: Inbal/Frankfurt (Teldec)
Nullified Symphony: Skrowaczewski/Saarbrücken (Oehms)

 

I'm surprised this thread hasn't received more posts. Come on people! We're in a Bruckner anniversary year!

 

Maybe because of this one, which went on for 19 pages until 2022...

https://www.talkclassical.com/threads/for-bruckner-addicts-only-bruckner-top-recordings-per-symphony.18147/page-19

 

0-3 Radio SO Berlin-Chailly
4 Pittsburgh SO-Honeck
5 VPO-Harnoncourt
6. Concertgebouw Orch-Chailly
7 VPO-Karajan
8 VPO-Karajan
9 VPO-Giulini

 

No. 00 - Elyakum Shapirra / London Symphony / 1971
Nicely paced and the conductor understands the instrumentation well.

No. 0 - Parvo Järvi / Frankfurt Radio Symphony / 2017
Nice rendering and good audio quality.

No. 1 - Simone Young / Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra / 2010
Strong sound, well paced, but also slows down and breathes at key moments.

No. 2 - Gennadi Rozhdestvensky / USSR State Symphony / 1984
The idiosyncratic timbre of this orchestra become, in Gennadi's hands, colourful and full of character and soul.

No. 3 - Gennadi Rozhdestvensky / USSR State Symphony / 1977
All of the above, plus I really love the Bruckner's Second revision better, especially the coda, where the rapidly repeating string figures give a racing feeling like being on a Swiss train!

No. 4 - Sergiu Celibidache / Munich Philharmonic / 1993
I've never heard such a brilliant, spacious, spiritual performance. And the ending transcends music itself! It inspired the musicologist Vishnu Bachani to write an entire essay!

No. 5 - Takashi Asahina / Japan Phil?? / 1992
Found this on YouTube. The orchestra (Japan Phil I believe?) are incredibly good performers and motivated. Asahina's unique and brilliant style work very well with this symphony. The fugue and coda are brilliant.

No. 6 - Sergiu Celibidache / Munish Philharmonic / 1991
For me, for this symphony, Celibidache's broad tempo and open, spacious feeling work best. I feel a bright and wide open energy from this symphony, like hay fields on a sunny day.

No. 7 - Takashi Asahina / Osaka / 1975
I had referened this in another thread already. Amazing orchestral colour, subtle phrasing. Tuba sound at the end of the first movement is just heavenly. And church bells ring between movements – magical!

No. 8 - Sergiu Celibidache / Munich Philharmonic / 1990
This particular performance really earned its fame in my opinion. It's not just the world-class orchestra and diligent conductor and many rehearsals – there is just something special and magic going on in this particular hour and three quarters. The players seem completely immersed in the music. The finale is superb - a vast expanse of calm energy. I have no doubt that Bruckner would have been amazed if he had lived to hear his 8th given this level of attention. It's funny how this symphony, unpopular and derided by many in its day, has in modern times been so admired!

No. 9 - Kurt Eichhorn / Bruckner Orchestra Linz / 1992
Contrary to some I'm a passionate fan of including the Finale of this symphony, as I believe it was Bruckner's original intention. This is the best complete performance I can find. It's very beautiful and passionate all throughout, not only in the Finale. The orchestra and conductor know this work very well and in their hands the piece sounds fresh.

 

I like Jochum/Berlin/Bavarian in Symphonies 1 and 2. These have been re-released by Tower Records in Japan in super audio sound tied to Bruckner's short sacred choral pieces. These recordings sound better than ever before and, for the first time, the timpani and bass can be heard.

No. 3 Schuricht and Vienna Philharmonic on a super audio CD released in Japan EMI TOCE-3404. This isn't it; it's the only picture I could find online.

No. 4 Furtwangler and Berlin on any recording beginning with the DG; this was later released having been made from original tapes but the sound wasn't much improved.

No. 5 by Horenstein and BBC Symphony or Hermann Abendroth and the Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra (1949) through the latter is hard to find in the best sound

No. 6 I don't care for this and most enjoyed Furtwangler's "headless torso" version with only three movements preserved. Of those I know with all four movements Lopez-Cobos and Cincinnati Symphony is quite good artistically and in sound.

No. 7 Bohm and Vienna Philharmonic from the Andante box of radio broadcasts released back around the millennium. This box also had No. 8 by Furtwangler and Berlin and No. 9 by Karajan and Berlin with an unfortunate horn clinker at the end. All the recording sound(ed) great.

No. 8 Gunther Wand's concert recording on RCA made in a church in Lubeck where the reverberation adds so much to both the sound and interpretation.

No. 9 I never cared for this either and never owned one I much liked. The music simply never did it for me. I learned it on Jochum's old Heliodor LP in college during the 1970s. I suppose that would be my favorite recording. Various completions never did anything for me either.

 

Not a composer I’ve really gelled with completely so I don’t have recommendations for most of them, but Furtwängler’s war time recordings of the 8th and 9th made me love at least those two.

 

I haven't been listening long enough to have favorite performances of each symphony. But I like my Karajan, and Skrowaczewski cycles. I suppose I could pick Wand / Berlin for my favorite 9th. My first Bruckner CD. A couple others I enjoy are B7 by Chailly, and B8 by Boulez.

 

nvm

 

Karajan/Berliner Philharmoniker (DG) for all Bruckner's symphonies.

 

Over the years, I've become less enthralled with Karajan's Bruckner. I still find several of his performances to be quite good like his 4th, 5th, 7th and 8th from that 70s cycle (with the angel wing on each album cover).

 

Bruckner Symphonies
No. 1 - Jochum, Berlin Philharmonic
No. 2 - Skrowaczewski, Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Saarbrücken
No. 3 - Haitink, Vienna Philharmonic (1877 version, with coda to Scherzo)
No. 4 - Honeck, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
No. 5 - Jochum, Concertgebouw (the later, 1986 performance)
No. 6 - Klemperer, New Philharmonia Orchestra
No. 7 - Jochum, Berlin Philharmonic
No. 8 - Karajan, Vienna Philharmonic
No. 9 - Horenstein, BBC Symphony Orchestra

 

Many thanks Neo - I cannot resist this type of thread! 😂

The choices I would make are mainly based on concerts I have attended down the years and the amazing recordings that are available.

Concerts include Gunter Wand in 8 & 9 (twice), Abbado BPO, Haitink BPO, Rattle BPO and Dohnanyi 8, and a whole heap of others that I can't remember, although Runnicles springs to mind...
Never caught Karajan, was going to Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath gigs - with hindsight....


First thoughts.......

Number 3
Karajan, Knappertsbusch, Wilder and Tintner are my usual gotos in three, but a year or so ago I bought an expensive BBC Live Proms recording and that is my current no. 1 - Matacik

Number 8
I have almost 40 recordings of this symphony and I have too many loved-ones to mention! But I've gone back to Karl Bohm's 1976 studio DG recording. Yeah, over and above Karajan, Giulini et al. Probably will change my mind is a few months....

Number 9
As I attend more concerts of the 4 movement version, the more I move towards it. But I still prefer the 3 movement 'incomplete' version.
Karajan's 1976 live VPO recording will never be topped, in my opinion.
It has everything, including raw power and sheer resolve..... Karajan with his teeth grit, sleeves rolled up and shirt unbuttoned

 

I invariably reach for Simone Young/Hamburg Philharmoniker. Just to mix it up a little with others I've enjoyed:

Symphony No. 1 - Young/Hamburg Philharmonic
Symphony No. 2 - Young/Hamburg Philharmonic
Symphony No. 3 - Janowski/Orchestra de la Suisse Normande
Symphony No. 4 - Wand/BPO
Symphony No. 5 - Sawallisch/Bayerisches Staatsorchester
Symphony No. 6 - Tintner/New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
Symphony No. 7 - Chailly/Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin
Symphony No. 8 - Young/Hamburg Philharmonic
Symphony No. 9 - Giulini/VPO

 

passing 00-2 because I don't think I know them well enough.

3 Schuricht/Vienna for the standard (1889?) version, Nott/Bamberg for the 1st version
4 Klemperer/Philharmonia
5 Harnoncourt, Welser Möst
6 Klemperer, Celibidache
7 Giulini/Vienna for slow, Gielen or Rosbaud for fast
8 Giulini/Vienna, Karajan/Vienna
9 Giulini/Vienna, Schuricht/Vienna, Rattle/Berlin for the completed version

 

Two choices for each symphony, a modern (stereo) and a historical (mono) one.

00 and 0 - don't care
1 - Barenboim (CSO) and G.L. Jochum (RSO Berlin)
2 - Giulini (VSO) and Konwitschny (RSO Berlin)
3 - Schuricht (VPO) and Knappertsbusch (Bavarian SO)
4 - Klemperer (Bavarian RSO) and Kabasta (Munich PO)
5 - E. Jochum (Staatskapelle Dresden) and Van Beinum (CO)
6 - Sawallisch (Bavarian SO) and G.L. Jochum (Bruckner Linz Orchestra)
7 - Haitink (CO, 1978) and Furtwängler (BPO, 1949)
8 - Barbirolli (Hallé) and Van Beinum (CO)
9 - Schuricht (VPO) and Furtwängler (BPO)

 

The only two Bruckner symphonies I listen to regularly anymore are #8 and #9. Generally I regard Bruckner's best symphonies to be those latter ones (conversely, and unless you count Das Lied von der Erde as a symphony; I think of Mahler's finest symphonies to be the earliest ones, #1, 2, 3, and 4). In my very limited knowledge of the full range of Bruckner interpretations, I would recommend Sergiu Celibidace with the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra as unusual those recordings may be in terms of the very slow tempos and Zen-inspired approach. As runner-ups, and restricting myself to only Symphonies #8 and #9; my choices would be the Karajan/Vienna recording for #8 that Karajan made very late in life, and Leonard Bernstein also with the Vienna Philharmonic for #9, and also made very late in Bernstein's career. Bernstein's recording of Symphony #9 with the VPO has a very intense second movement.

 

Like with Beethoven, Brahms, Mahler et. al., there isn't one cycle that has all of the musical answers, which is why I couldn't suggest to anyone coming to Bruckner for the first-time a complete symphony cycle, but rather I'd suggest giving a listen to a wide array of performances. Bruckner's symphonies are quite vast and there are many different performing editions of the symphonies that it's difficult to get a grip on them all. Anyone just getting into Bruckner, I'd say, for me, the symphony to start with is the 4th. This was my own gateway into his sound-world --- the phenomenal Böhm/Wiener Philharmoniker performance on Decca to be exact. This is why for me it's easier to make a list of individual favorite performances for each symphony rather than just list a bunch of cycles. As for my own list, I have already been reconsidering some of my initial choices, so I could come back here and make another list.

 

00 - Inbal
1 - Rozhdestvensky - Vienna version
0 - Haitink
2 - Tintner
3 - Haitink - VPO
4 - Wöss
5 -
6 -
7 - Celibidache
8 -
9 - Eichhorn

 

I just bought the Günter Wand Kölner box at a used bookstore yesterday. I hope I like it.

 

It's a great cycle in my book.

 

Symphonies numbers.

• Zero or Die Nullte: Barenboim with the Chicago Symphony (DG)
• I: Herbert von Karajan with the Berlin Philharmonic (DG)
• II: Herbert von Karajan with the Berlin Philharmonic (DG)
• III (original 1873 version): Simone Young with the Hamburg Philharmonic (Oehms)
• III (revised 1889 version): Jochum with the Staatskapelle Dresden (EMI/Warner Classics)
• IV: Barenboim with the Chicago Symphony (DG)
• V: Jochum with the Royal Concertgebouw (Tahra)
• VI: Sawallisch with the Bavarian State Orchestra (Orfeo)
• VII: Herbert von Karajan with the Vienna Philharmonic (DG)
• VIII (original 1887 version): Simone Young with the Hamburg Philharmonic (Oehms)
• VIII (revised 1890 version): Gunther Wand with the Berlin Philharmonic (RCA)
• IX: Carlo Maria Giulini with the Vienna Philharmonic (DG)

 

Good to see Simone Young represented in your own list. I've been going through her cycle on Oehms and really enjoying it. Out of all of the performances I've heard from her cycle so far, I'd say the 2nd, 5th and 6th are rather special to my ears.

 

Karajan, Tintner, and Jochum tend to be my go-to for Bruckner performances.

 

My absolute favourite Bruckner recording is Günther Wand with the Berlin Philharmonic in the 4th.

 

My absolute favourite Bruckner recording is Günther Wand with the Berlin Philharmonic in the 4th.

View attachment 204403

I love all of Wand's Bruckner Berliner recordings, which I bought many years ago in this box set:

 

4 - Heinz Rögner/Berlin RSO (East German)
7 - Ivan Fischer/Budapest FO, Heinz Rögner/Berlin RSO

 

No love for any of the other symphonies? Truth be told, and this could be seen as blasphemy, the 4th is one of my least favorite Bruckner symphonies along with the 1st and those 0 or 00 or whatever they're called.

 

That Rögner 4th was one of my first Bruckner symphonies. But since I've picked up a few complete and partial cycles I usually skip the 4th. I think I may have too much Bruckner at this point.

Full sets:
Jochum
Skrowaczewski
Karajan
Wand

Partial sets:
Wand Profil box 3-9
Klemperer 4-9
Barenboim 4&7

It figures that I would find the Wand Kölner box in a used bookstore a week after buying the Profil box. Now I wish I had bought the Gielen box on sale at JPC instead of the Wand.

 

Gielen was a hell of a conductor, except that a lot of his work was on budget labels like Turnabout, but on the German classical stuff he was very good.

 

Considering both perfomance and sound:
Symphony 00, 0, 1, 2 - No Preference
Symphony No. 3 - Haitink VPO 1988 Philips
Symphony No. 4 - Böhm VPO 1973 Decca
Symphony No. 5 - Celibidache MPO 1993 EMI
Symphony No. 6 - Karajan BPO 1979 DG
Symphony No. 7 - Giulini VPO 1987 DG
Symphony No. 8 - Haitink RCO 1981 Philips
Symphony No. 9 - Giulini VPO 1988 DG

 

Here's my list, but it's rather limited because I don't listen to some of Bruckner's symphonies enough to have an opinion about them:

No. 3 - Berlin Philharmonic / Karajan
No. 5 - Vienna Philharmonic / Abbado
No. 7 - Vienna Philharmonic / Karajan (his final recording); Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra / Van Beinum
No. 8 - Vienna Philharmonic / Giulini
No. 9 - Berlin Philharmonic / Karajan