Bruckner

Daniel Barenboim is an expert in exploiting the impact of cyclical performances of composers’ works: This time he focuses his sharp intellect on all six of Anton Bruckner’s mature symphonies. Der Tagesspiegel described Barenboim’s performance of the works with the Staatskapelle Berlin on six nearly consecutive evenings in June 2010 as a “superhuman” accomplishment and went on to praise how: “His Bruckner is conceived and performed very theatrically, like an opera without words.”Bruckner’s famous “Romantic” Symphony No. 4 forms the prelude to a spectacular DVD series from Accentus Music and Unitel Classica, exploring Bruckner’s symphonic cosmos.

The Süddeutsche Zeitung summed up this highly acclaimed performance of Bruckner's monumental Fifth Symphony by saying: “Both Bruckner’s belief in God, as it majestically wells up out of the chorale of the Fifth, and his deeply tragic world view, collide with one another in Barenboim’s interpretation”. The operatic experience of the conductor was almost tangible, revealing the “sheer dramatic instrumental battle between Bruckner’s God and the Devil – between heaven and hell – without betraying Bruckner’s unerring sense of striking proportions.” The release of this “contrapuntal masterpiece” (as Bruckner, not without pride, referred to this work) is part of Daniel Barenboim’s Bruckner cycle with the renowned Staatskapelle Berlin.

Anton Bruckner’s 6th Symphony was written between 1879 and 1881: a very happy time in his life. Unlike most of Bruckner’s symphonies, the 6th was not revised. Of all his works, this one seems to come from a single source of inspiration. Bruckner himself called it his “boldest” symphony – probably due to its extreme degree of motivic, rhythmic and harmonic originality. This live recording of the seldom‐performed 6th Symphony is the next instalment of the acclaimed Bruckner cycle by the Staatskapelle Berlin and Daniel Barenboim.

Bruckner's music embodies the visions of a devout, ordinary man. Parts of his expansive, shimmering musical landscapes are influenced by Wagner, but one can also detect Schubert, who began life in similar circumstances. The reposeful piety which runs through Bruckner's symphonic spectrum lends his music its unique power of attraction.

Andris Nelsons and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig conclude their award-winning Bruckner cycle. Starting in 2017 with Symphony No. 3, the cycle has received countless superlatives and garnered the 2017 Edison Klassiek Award. Each symphony has been considerately paired with music by Wagner. In this final instalment of the cycle, Nelsons complements Symphonies Nos. 1 & 5 with the Prelude and Liebestod from Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde".

In Anton Bruckner’s 7th Symphony, the listener encounters a music characterized by great spaciousness and profound solemnity, a music which speaks of grief and lamentation, but also of their transcendence. With its monumental architecture and intensity of sound, the symphony has moved listeners ever since its triumphal premiere in 1884. The Guardian calls Daniel Barenboim’s London interpretation “Tremendous … Barenboim and the Staatskapelle seem to have this work in their systems, and the overall impression was of music unfolding organically at its own pace rather than of a work being self-consciously interpreted or led.”

“Abbado’s approach to the music of Bruckner is soft and songlike, at times tense and urgent, but constantly filled with warmth of feeling” – not only the Neue Zürcher Zeitung is full of praise when Claudio Abbado and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra play Bruckner. Their interpretation of his awe-inspiring Fifth Symphony reflects the composer’s burgeoning powers and exquisite compositional artistry. As The Guardian poetically states: “The composer himself, one suspects, might have leapt to embrace Abbado as an ideal interpreter.”

The most comprehensive Bruckner Symphonies cycle, including all available versions. Bruckner’s Third Symphony was always something of a symphonic problem child, from its disastrous first performance (not with standing the enthusiastic reception it received from a young Gustav Mahler) until well into the 20th century. In its original form, it's the longest, most Wagnerian of his symphonies that is often considered, rightly or wrongly, the first truly Brucknerian symphony. While some cherish the uncompromising originality of the first version, Bruckner himself preferred the much tighter 1889 third version, finding it “incomparably better”. This recording of that final version now enables listeners to decide for themselves.