Following their recordings of Bruckner's Symphonies Nos. 7 (ALPHA932, Diapason d'Or) and 8 (ALPHA987, awarded 'best symphonic recording of the year' at the International Classical Music Awards), Paavo Jarvi and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich here conclude their tribute to the Austrian composer in this bicentenary year with a recording of his 9th symphony. The orchestra's history has been closely linked to Bruckner since it gave the first Swiss performance of one of his symphonies under Richard Strauss in 1903. "The great classical and romantic tradition of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich make it ideally suited to Bruckner, the central composer for modern symphony orchestras," says Paavo Jarvi. Bruckner composed this musical farewell (he wrote the words "a farewell to life" in the score) in his final years; legend has it that he was still working on the symphony on the day he died.

The present recording is part of BRUCKNER2024 – a project which began in 2011 with the goal to record all symphonies of Anton Bruckner in all versions including the intermediate variants until the 200th birthday of the composer in 2024. Bruckner’s search for the ideal symphony is clearly expressed in the various manifestations of his Fourth, which he himself described as the “Romantic”. Having finished the score of his Third on New Year’s Eve 1873/74, he set to work on January 2 of the new year on his sketch of the first movement of the Fourth. Eleven months later, “at half past eight in the evening” on November 22, 1874, the new symphony was complete. But this act of completion was not his last word. Bruckner made changes, replacing his previous Scherzo in 1878 with the version dubbed his “hunting scherzo”. Apart from that, he composed a new last movement known as the “people’s festival”. The next revision, signed off in June 1880, introduced a further, completely new version of the finale. This then, together with the first three movements, comprised the version now usually performed. Hans Richter conducted the Vienna Philharmonic in the inaugural performance of the Fourth on February 20, 1881, followed later that year by Felix Mottl in Karlsruhe on December 10. It was once again Hans Richter who conducted the symphony in January 1888, this time in its final version.

A live recording of Bruckner's most beloved symphony

The German star pianist Matthias Kirschnereitdedicates this album entirely to the piano cosmos of Richard Wagner?. Wagner himself wrote few works for solo piano, but he influenced many of his contemporaries and musical heirs with his work?. Matthias Kirschnereit presents a wide range of repertoire - Wagner: Sonata for the album M.W., Lied ohne Worte E major for Eduard Reitz, In das Album der Furstin M., Zurcher Vielliebchen Walzer, Polka, Notenbrief fur Mathilde Wesendonck, Ankunft bei den Schwarzen Schwanen; Wagner/Stradal: Schmerzen; Wagner/Rubinstein: Musikalische Bilder aus Siegfried; Liszt: Am Grabe Richard Wagners; Bizet: Premier Nocturne D Dur; Duparc: Aux etoiles; Langgaard: Stambogsblad; Bulow: Innocence; Bruckner: Erinnerung; Mendelssohn: Lied ohne Worte E Dur op.38/3?

The present box will be released on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the label SWRmusic. It contains re-releases of important recordings from the SWR archives, starting with 1952 and ending with 2018.

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.

Recorded 1975-76.

On July 24th, Gerd Schaller conducted the Philharmonia Festiva in a performance of the Bruckner Symphony No. 9 in a "four movement version with Finale supplemented from original sources and completed by Gerd Schaller." The performance took place in the Ebrach Abbey in Ebrach, Germany as part of the Ebracher Musiksommer. As with Schaller's other Bruckner performances at Ebrach, the concert was recorded by Bavarian Radio Studio Franken and will be released on CD this December on the Profil label.

Gerd Schaller’s completion and performance gained long applause, the conductor repeatedly called back to take a further bow, and to my ears succeeded wonderfully in its aim of presenting a completed Ninth as a great musical event and a shattering, revelatory spiritual journey. Ken Ward on the original concert.

When Anton Bruckner premiered his Te Deum at the Vienna Musikverein in 1886, he later referred to it as the "pride of my life." This rare display of self-assurance is striking, given that Bruckner was otherwise known for his artistic self-doubt and frequently revised his compositions. But in this case, he was certain-and the critics agreed: the Te Deum became one of his greatest successes, surpassing even many of his symphonies in public acclaim. The story of the Mass in F minor unfolded rather differently. Commissioned by the Imperial Court Chapel in Vienna (Wiener Hofmusikkappelle), it was composed nearly two decades before the Te Deum. Bruckner subjected the work to multiple revisions up until 1893-a creative process typical of him. He conducted the premiere himself and even covered the considerable costs, after the Hofkappelle had initially dismissed the Mass as "unsingable." Only gradually did the work establish itself in the repertoire. The recordings on this album were made in 2024 and 2025, bringing together an outstanding cast of internationally acclaimed singers under the direction of a conductor of international standing.

PH16063 Bruckner 9, Vol. 54 Edition Staatskapelle Dresden. Christian Thielemann, Staatskapelle Dresden, Live Aufnahme der Saison 2014/2015 aus der Semperoper �Ich mag die Neunte gar nicht anfangen, ich traue mich nicht, denn auch Beethoven machte mit der Neunten den Abschluss seines Lebens!� Anton Bruckner

This series to mark the 200th birthday of Anton Bruckner in 2024 is dedicated to his symphonic works. Hansjorg Albrecht will perform all of Bruckner's symphonies in many new transcriptions for organ at important locations such as Zurich, Leipzig, Linz, Vienna and London. Bruckner's works are framed by contemporary compositions that deal with Bruckner's work in the "Bruckner Windows". Hansjorg Albrecht concludes the extensive project to commemorate Anton Bruckner with the last recording of the Study Symphony.

Anton Bruckner - Symphony No. 7 Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR, Eliahu Inbal.

Sony Classical releases the full cycle of Bruckner’s symphonies recorded by the Vienna Philharmonic under Christian Thielemann on 11 CDs. The box set, featuring the composer’s nine numbered symphonies, his ‘Study Symphony’, his ‘Nullified’ symphony, and a 172-page booklet. This release constitutes the first complete recording of the Austrian composer’s symphonies from the orchestra under a single conductor. Christian Thielemann enjoys a strong rapport with the Vienna Philharmonic and has established himself as one of his generation’s most esteemed interpreters of the Romantic Austro-German repertoire.

Past praise for previously released CDs included in this set:

Bruckner: Symphony No. 4 / Thielemann, Vienna Philharmonic

This new Bruckner Fourth deserves a strong recommendation. It is a reading of undeniable power and presence.

-- Fanfare

Bruckner: Symphony No. 8 / Thielemann, Vienna Ohilharmonic

Overall, there’s an aliveness to the music, inspired by the concert setting, which adds another reason this Bruckner Eighth is so satisfying. If you want to hear Thielemann at his best, conducting a stupendous orchestra, that’s precisely what we have here.

-- Fanfare

Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 . Thielemann, Vienna Philharmonic

Thielemann's interpretation has intimacies hard to find in other versions, and a vulnerability movingly communicated in the Vienna Philharmonic’s super-empathetic playing.

-- BBC Magazine

This final release of Capriccios Bruckner Symphonies - The Complete Versions Edition includes his very first and last Symphony. In March 1861, Anton Bruckner completed his counterpoint studies with the renowned teacher Simon Sechter who had also taught Schubert. His graduation signaled the end of an extended compositional hiatus. Bruckner's F-Minor Symphony was conceived in the classical and early romantic tradition of Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn and Schumann. Bruckner's Ninth: his best (as some say) symphony, certainly his most daring and, thanks to the missing finale, his most mysterious. It is where Bruckner meets Mahler and, while working on it, his maker. He wanted to write a finale, of course, but too much remains missing. What is left, is a heavenly Adagio, which quietly fades away with references in the brass to the two preceding symphonies. Thus ends Bruckner's uncompleted life's work.

Anton Bruckner began the revision of his Third Symphony after completing the Fifth on 16 May 1876 and continued working on it sporadically until 28 April 1877. Then, after the Vienna Philharmonic rejected the Symphony for a third time, Bruckner's friend, Hofkapellmeister Johann Herbeck, took matters into his own hands. He arranged to conduct the work himself on the concert series of the Society for the Friends of Music [Gesellschaftskonzerte] on 16 December 1877. After Herbeck passed away unexpectedly, Bruckner was forced to conduct the symphony himself. The performance proved to be one of the worst debacles of his career. The players were rude and unreceptive, and the audience left the concert hall in droves. Despite the public fiasco, Theodor Rattig, one of the few people who stayed, offered to publish the symphony. Two other people who were there at the end, Gustav Mahler and Rudolf Krzyzanowski, prepared a piano four-hand reduction for Rattig's publication which appeared at the end of 1879. It was the first publication of a Bruckner Symphony.

Sony presents the next installment of Christian Thielemann’s complete cycle of Anton Bruckner’s symphonies with the Vienna Philharmonic - the orchestra’s first Bruckner cycle under a single conductor.

The Vienna Philharmonic premiered four of Anton Bruckner’s nine symphonies, including No. 4 in 1881 and has enjoyed a unique relationship with the Austrian composer’s music since 1873. Christian Thielemann, Principal Conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden, Artistic Director of the Salzburg Easter Festival since 2013 and Music Director of the Bayreuth Festival, is his generation’s most esteemed interpreter of the Romantic Austro-German repertoire. In the midst of a mutually stimulating relationship with the Vienna Philharmonic, he conducted his first New Year’s Concert with the orchestra in 2019.

REVIEW:

From expectant pizzicatos and hallowed strings to the blazing brass at the finish, for eighty-two minutes Christian Thielemann and the Vienna Philharmonic engage and illuminate us with this majestic, sonorous and deeply expressive account of the mighty Fifth (Nowak’s edition), captured during March last year in the Golden Hall of the Musikverein, resplendently and with focus within the generous acoustic.

It’s an eloquent and powerful performance, detailed, dynamic, as capable of cathedral hush and awe as being sonically magnificent in Heaven-reaching fortissimos, the latter avoiding coarseness and brass-heavy balances. Drama, too, in the way Thielemann adjusts tempos without losing the movements’ threads and invests such as a quiet bass line with significance.

-- Colin's Column

Bruckner’s Second Symphony is a rare enough encounter in its 1877 version, but it’s virtually unperformed in the 1872 original version. This is not owing to some deficiency of the earlier ideas compared to the later alterations. It’s mainly habit and convenience because to get new parts and re-learn something ostensibly known, that differs in a great many details, means an extra expense of effort and resources. That’s a shame, really, because it is decidedly worth discovering the original, not-yet-ironed-out rawness of Bruckner’s early masterpiece, which was something unheard of at the time – but needn’t remain unheard now.

Anton Bruckner finally received the award of an honorary doctorate of the University of Vienna on 11 December 1891. For Bruckner, receiving the doctorate fulfilled a long-time wish. He had spent most of his life pursuing academic credentials and applied for honorary doctorates at Cambridge University in 1882 and at the Universities of Pennsylvania and Cincinnati in 1885. Two days later, Hans Richter conducted the Vienna Philharmonic in the first performance of the second or so-called “Vienna” version of the composer’s First Symphony, which he had dedicated to the university in gratitude for the degree. The changes Bruckner made in the revised version of the First Symphony are not as extensive as those he made to the Third, Fourth, and Eighth Symphonies during the late 1880s and early 1890s. His revisions to the First Symphony did not affect the overall form of any of the movements. He changed many details of orchestration, articulation, and phrase length, some of which are difficult to notice on first hearing. The 1891 autograph score is, nevertheless, the composer’s final word on how he wanted his First Symphony to be performed and understood.

Among Bruckner’s Symphonies, the Fifth is his contrapuntal masterpiece; the grandest until the Eighth. The tour-de-force of a finale gives us an idea of what the finale of the Ninth might have been like. Its magnificent dark and halting opening with the descending bass line – so effectively recalled in the finale – is inimitable. Although long available only in a disfigured version by Franz Schalk, it is also distinct for never having been the subject to revision or, perhaps, even doubt on the part of Bruckner – who never heard it performed with an orchestra. And yet, when Bruckner wrote this masterpiece, he was still far from establishing himself as a composer in Vienna and his spirits were as low as ever, writing a friend that “my life has lost all joy and delight – in vain and for nothing.” A radiant pinnacle from amid darkness.

By his own reckoning, Bruckner began his career as a professional composer when he was thirty-nine years old. With a mere exercise for a symphony under his belt – the unnumbered one in F minor – he was now ready to write his first true symphony. The world was not. First performed in 1868 in Linz – badly – the work flopped and was put aside until nine years and five symphonies later, when it was gently adjusted. A subsequent performance in 1884 was Bruckner’s “most successful Viennese performance to date”, prompting, perplexingly, a thorough revision that would be the 1891 “Vienna” version. This recording uses the unadulterated 1868 “Linz” version.

“Since Beethoven, nothing has been written that even comes close!”

The great conductor Arthur Nikisch made this remark to Bruckner’s former student, Joseph Schalk and also his fellow conductor, Hermann Levi, described the piece as “the most significant symphonic work since Beethoven’s death.”

Arthur Nikisch conducted the first performance in the Stadttheater, Leipzig, on 30 December 1884, with Bruckner in the audience. While the performance was not a total triumph, it brought the sixty-year-old composer significant international recognition for the first time. During the composer’s lifetime, the Seventh, especially its Adagio, was his most popular symphony, and it remains among his most beloved and frequently performed works.

Bruckner’s Third Symphony had always been something of a problem child among Bruckner’s symphonies, from its disastrous first reception (an enthused youthful Gustav Mahler notwithstanding) until well into the 20th century. In its original form, it is the longest, most Wagnerian of his symphonies – and often considered, rightly or not, the first truly Brucknerian symphony. While some cherish the uncompromising originality of the first version, Bruckner himself wanted the third, much tightened Edition performed, finding it “incomparably better”. It is that final version that is here recorded – and listeners can now easily decide for themselves.

Anton Bruckner 200 (1824-2024)

Released to coincide with Bruckner's 200th birthday in 2024, this 18-CD set brings together the entire recorded cycle of Bruckner's symphonies in the Capriccio label's The Complete Versions Edition. Markus Poschner's acclaimed recordings of Bruckner's symphonies feature all of the versions identified as having significant revisions and changes in the authoritative Neue Anton Bruckner Gesamtausgabe (New Anton Bruckner Complete Edition), making this the most comprehensive Bruckner Symphonies cycle available today.

Bruckner’s frantic revisions of his symphonies Nos. 3, 4, and 8 were borne out of his disappointment with Hermann Levi rejecting the original version of the 8th symphony. Helping in this large-scale revamping effort were former Bruckner-students Franz and Joseph Schalk, Ferdinand Löwe, Max von Oberleithner, and Cyrill Hynai, which resulted in these versions’ reputation – and especially that of the last version of the 4th – being varnished as something not quite Echt-Bruckner.

It wasn’t until the discovery of photographs of the 1888 version’s manuscript score and the subsequent publication of Benjamin Korstvedt’s edition thereof that it became clear: This late edition really did reflect Bruckner’s intentions. To ears familiar with the still better-known 1881 version, the result might sound mystifying, even troubling, but it also surprises with many particularly exquisite passages!

Between 1950 and 1980, he was one of the most important conductors of international standing, and yet he has been somewhat forgotten: Karl Böhm was the antistar among the podium greats of his time, a decidedly businesslike servant of the music. For the first time, two Lucerne concert recordings with the Vienna Philharmonic, with whom he was closely associated for decades, are released: Bruckner's Seventh Symphony and - a solitaire in Böhm's discography - an upbeat Hindemith concerto. In the summer of 1970, Böhm, by all means an advocate of contemporary music in his younger years, performed Paul Hindemith's 1949 Concerto for Woodwinds, Harp and Orchestra in Lucerne. The three-movement work offers the five-member Concertino group grateful playing tasks and, with its quotation from Mendelssohn's Wedding March, makes reference to Hindemith's own silver wedding anniversary. In addition to Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, and Strauss, the symphonies of Anton Bruckner were also central to Böhm's concert repertoire. Böhm's Bruckner interpretations possess an aura, but it is neither the religiously pathos-laden one of Eugen Jochum, nor the pathetically worldly one of Sergiu Celibidache, nor the matter-of-factly austere one of Nikolaus Harnoncourt. This is also evident in the Lucerne recording of the Seventh Symphony from September 1964: Böhm never loses sight of the whole and yet plays out every articulatory detail with almost scrupulous fidelity to the text. He follows Bruckner's blocky editing technique without aggressively emphasizing it. He does not avoid the music's solemn monumentality, but neither does he exaggerate it into false, violent pathos.

Sony Classical releases the fourth installment of Christian Thielemann’s complete cycle of Anton Bruckner’s symphonies with the Vienna Philharmonic – the orchestra’s first Bruckner cycle under a single conductor. “The claim that this orchestra is essentially the only genuine original sound ensemble for the music of Anton Bruckner should remain beyond dispute” raves Die Presse. The Vienna Philharmonic premiered four of Bruckner’s nine symphonies and has enjoyed a unique relationship with the Austrian composer’s music since 1873, when it gave the first performance of his Symphony No 2.

Thielemann has come as close as possible to the ideal Bruckner sound with the Vienna Philharmonic: full-toned, warm, with registrations that are full of countless colours, clear without sounding harsh and well-contoured without seeming angular. Thielemann’s interpretations of Bruckner’s music are rooted on deep expertise and sympathy. Few conductors can match the solemnity and patience he finds in composer’s symphonies, or his ability to draw on the unparalleled beauty of the orchestra’s sound and the special acoustic of its home in Vienna, the Musikverein.

Christian Thielemann, Principal Conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden and Artistic Director of the Salzburg Easter Festival since 2013, is his generation’s most esteemed interpreter of the Romantic Austro-German repertoire. In the midst of a mutually stimulating relationship with the Vienna Philharmonic, he conducted his first New Year’s Concert with the orchestra in 2019.

The Vienna Philharmonic will issue the final release of the live cycle in 2024, marking 200 years since the Bruckner’s birth.

Founded in 1841 under the participation of Constanze Mozart, the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg today enjoys the highest reputation worldwide for it's lively and style-conscious Mozart interpretations. In numerous ways it connects the Viennese Classical period to the music of the 19th/20th and 21st centuries. The orchestras constant preoccupation with his core repertoire also shapes it's approach to the music of later periods. Thus chamber-musical transparency, articulatory clarity and nuanced sonority are a trademark that makes the Mozarteum Orchestra special and recognizable, also when playing the music of other composers. The Mozarteumorchester Salzburg proves once again it's unrivaled position as interpreters of the Mozart stylistic and uses the organ sonatas as a departure into other stylistic periods. It Includes two world premiere recordings of Henze's "Konzertmusik" and "Three Mozart Organ Sonatas".

Anton Bruckner Symphony No. 9 D minor, WAB 109 Bamberger Symphoniker Herbert Blomstedt There is often an occasion for great concerts, but there are rarely several good reasons for a concert recording of an outstanding musical event. 2024 marked the 200th anniversary of the birth of the Austrian composer Anton Bruckner. For the Swedish conductor Herbert Blomstedt, Bruckner is a genius and the greatest symphonist since Beethoven. No composer is more closely associated with Herbert Blomstedt than Anton Bruckner. And no conductor has dealt with Anton Bruckner more intensively than Herbert Blomstedt. Probably the world's longest-serving conductor, with an eventful career spanning seven decades, Herbert Blomstedt celebrated his 97th birthday on July 11, 2024. Closely associated with him for years: the Bamberg Symphony, which he has conducted in almost 200 concerts in Germany and over 20 concerts abroad. In honor of Anton Bruckner and Herbert Blomstedt, the Bamberg Symphony planned a special gift to their honorary conductor. On July 11, 2024, the day of his 97th birthday, Blomstedt conducted Bruckner's 9th Symphony in the Basilica of St. Florian, a place to which Anton Bruckner held close ties throughout his life. The great symphonist began his musical career as a Florian choirboy and later continued there as organist of St. Florian. Anton Bruckner was repeatedly drawn back to the abbey, where he found his final resting place under the organ. Recorded live at the Basilica of St. Florian Monastery Contains two bonus films: A birthday serenade for Herbert Blomstedt's 97th birthday Herbert Blomstedt on Anton Bruckner

Anton Bruckner Symphony No. 9 D minor, WAB 109 Bamberger Symphoniker Herbert Blomstedt There is often an occasion for great concerts, but there are rarely several good reasons for a concert recording of an outstanding musical event. 2024 marked the 200th anniversary of the birth of the Austrian composer Anton Bruckner. For the Swedish conductor Herbert Blomstedt, Bruckner is a genius and the greatest symphonist since Beethoven. No composer is more closely associated with Herbert Blomstedt than Anton Bruckner. And no conductor has dealt with Anton Bruckner more intensively than Herbert Blomstedt. Probably the world's longest-serving conductor, with an eventful career spanning seven decades, Herbert Blomstedt celebrated his 97th birthday on July 11, 2024. Closely associated with him for years: the Bamberg Symphony, which he has conducted in almost 200 concerts in Germany and over 20 concerts abroad. In honor of Anton Bruckner and Herbert Blomstedt, the Bamberg Symphony planned a special gift to their honorary conductor. On July 11, 2024, the day of his 97th birthday, Blomstedt conducted Bruckner's 9th Symphony in the Basilica of St. Florian, a place to which Anton Bruckner held close ties throughout his life. The great symphonist began his musical career as a Florian choirboy and later continued there as organist of St. Florian. Anton Bruckner was repeatedly drawn back to the abbey, where he found his final resting place under the organ. Recorded live at the Basilica of St. Florian Monastery Contains two bonus films: A birthday serenade for Herbert Blomstedt's 97th birthday Herbert Blomstedt on Anton Bruckner

In September 2024, the music world celebrates the 200th anniversary of Anton Bruckner's birth in 1824. To coincide with the anniversary itself, and following the release of Bruckner's Ninth 4 earlier in 2024, Accentus Music will release the recording of Bruckner's Symphony No. 2 with the Bamberg Symphony, this time under the musical direction of their conductor laureate Christoph Eschenbach. Composed in a rather restless and pessimistic state of mind, Bruckner's Second oscillates between heartfelt prayers, desperate outbursts, helpless silence, and ecstatic dance scenes. A co-production with BR-Klassik

Bruckner: Symphony No. 8