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

Today, Katerina Knezikova is a well-known name in the world of opera (Glyndebourne) and on concert stages (BBC SO, Bamberger Symphoniker, Czech Philharmonic, LPO, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, RLPO etc.). After her album Phidyle, which attracted considerable critical attention (Gramophone Editor's Choice, BBC Music Magazine Award), she let herself be carried away by the world of Richard Strauss's songs, full of micro-dramas, transparent emotions, and deep intimacy. Her partner and guide on this journey is Jakub Hrusa with the Bamberger Symphoniker in an enchanting live performance of the Four Last Songs, and- surprisingly for many-also in the supremely intimate world of songs with piano. The sensitive Lieder selection covers Strauss's entire career spanning nearly 70 years. The composer's songs bear the impressions of major events of his whole life and the atmosphere of his times, leading to the themes of parting and death heard in his Four Last Songs. Each of the songs is a perfectly polished gem, the beauty of which is enhanced by the extraordinarily harmonious interplay of the two artists. The Songs of Richard Strauss - perfectly polished gems

Anton Bruckner 200 (1824-2024)

The sincerity and, at the same time, emotionality of Anton Bruckner's musical thoughts create an inimitable magnetism that makes one 'forget' time in the very best sense of the word. Anyone who wants to approach Bruckner only analytically will find their mind boggled, especially at the first encounter. His great power is a certain 'transcendental charm' that is common to all his symphonies.

In 2024, the music world celebrates the 200th anniversary of Anton Bruckner's birth on September 4, 1824. On this occasion, the Bamberg Symphony - an orchestra well-versed in the interpretation of Bruckner's symphonic cosmos - and their music director Jakub Hruša present a new recording of the composer's last and unfinished symphony, his Ninth.

On 30 November 1894, Bruckner completed the third movement of his Ninth symphony, which, like all of its predecessors, was laid out in four movements. Work on the finale began on 24 May 1895, around 16 months before his death. He composed the first 172 bars of the movement in full, after which the score is at least partially orchestrated for a further 200 bars. Although a playable version of the finale of Bruckner's Symphony No. 9 is now available, in practical life the three-movement torso has become the norm. It seems as if the non-completion paradoxically claims its place. The Austrian critic and musicologist Walter Weidringer wrote that the Ninth 'may be taken as one of those examples from music history that prove that even fragments can display a degree of completion which no longer seems capable of improvement.'

A production of Accentus Music in co-production with BR-KLASSIK.

The music of Wagner, Mahler and Strauss is very close to the heart of the Bamberg Symphony and even seems to have ingrained itself in their DNA, to which the award-winning recordings of Mahler 4 with Jakub Hruša and Mahler 9 with Herbert Blomstedt impressively attest. With this concept album, they reflect on the topic of death, which Jakub Hruša does not interpret solely as a moment full of despair and tragedy. Rather, he sees in death an element "that gives our lives meaning." And it is this idea that the orchestra and its principal conductor convey with their interpretation of four key works by Richard Wagner, Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss. The result creates a form of dialog between the composers, who build on each other historically and stylistically. A dialog that, says Hruša, "charms our ears and touches our hearts."

On Italian Perspectives, the Bamberger Symphoniker and Riccardo Frizza trace the revival and evolution of Italian instrumental music. Giuseppe Martucci's Symphony No. 1 in D minor, completed in 1895, illuminates the Italian symphonic tradition often overshadowed by opera, blending Brahmsian rigor with striking, passionate outbursts. Respighi's Trittico Botticelliano brings Renaissance paintings to life with luminous chamber orchestration, while his masterful orchestrations of Rachmaninoff's *5 �tudes-Tableaux* reveal a rare synthesis of Italian colour and Russian narrative depth. From desolate seascapes and dramatic funeral marches to the playful, suspenseful tale of Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf, Respighi transforms piano works into vivid orchestral landscapes, preserving every nuance of Rachmaninoff's originals. Riccardo Frizza, featured on PENTATONE in The Three Queens and Signor Gaetano (2022), leads the Bamberger Symphoniker in their PENTATONE debut, bringing these works to life with precision, colour, and expressive intensity.

A household word when speaking of repertoire, legendary flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal devoted just as much effort to establishing the masterpieces in their rightful place as to unearthing countless works from the baroque, classical and romantic eras. As far as concertos are concerned, cornerstones by Bach, Mozart and Vivaldi thus gained worldwide fame, and it went the same way for Ibert, Jolivet and Nielsen. Unfailing lyric sense, purity of style, magnificent tone, grace of phrasing, fabulous virtuosity, tremendous commitment... Critics, colleagues and the public were all running out of superlatives. Immediately valued as references, his recordings still fascinate and often leave the listener exhilarated. This 12 CD set tries the challenge of surrounding these marvels with some of the most dazzling rediscoveries, offering famous and less famous music, but equally glorious interpretations.

Classical Music

Seeing the name Guiomar Novaes makes me feel like a kid again, blowing my allowance on Everests and Vox Boxes and Vanguards and the like (Serious Record Collector's Disease can strike early and hard—parents, know the telltale signs!). By the time I hit puberty (the verb is entirely appropriate) I had acquired several of the Brazilian pianist's Chopin discs for Vox, although I did so more by happenstance than by design.

And then I was a child no more, and it was time to put away childish things. Novaes and her discographie companions were filed away with the rest of my immaturity as I graduated to bigger allowances, and bigger labels and artists. A few years ago I remember actually sneering at an acquaintance's suggestion that we listen to Novaes's recordings of a few Chopin Nocturnes. "How good could she be?' ' I asked him and myself.

I now eat my words, because Novaes is very good indeed. These three sets were both a trip down Memory Lane and a voyage into new territory. I knew about her close association with Chopin's music, but I didn't know to what extent she made her mark in Romantic and Classical repertoire. "The Classical Novaes" is Exhibit A: consider her serene, stately "Emperor" Concerto, a performance which doesn't deign to impress the listener with mere technical display. Also, consider her Mozart, a perfect blend of clarity and emotional involvement. This is music from the Classical period played with a Romantic sensibility, but one that doesn't glorify the artist at the expense of the art. With Novaes, Beethoven and Mozart came first.

The other two sets are similarly impressive by means of similar virtues. Novaes never hurries, never pounds, and never distorts, and while it would be easy to find more viscerally exciting or technically mind-boggling performances of these works, it would be hard to find ones that are classier or more poised. The Grieg concerto is a particular highlight: this is an uncommonly serious reading, one that blows the powdered sugar right off the snow drifts, and frankly, one of the best that I have ever heard. As for the Chopin, it goes straight to the listener with its intimacy. There's nothing special about Novaes's fingers, particularly in the Études and in the concerto, but the playing goes to the heart. And those Nocturnes! There are several great recordings of these works, but Novaes's are the ones that makes the recording process itself disappear, with her mellow colors and seamless line.

The orchestral accompaniments are passable and better than I expected, particularly when Perlea is on the podium. The 1955-ish sound ranges from dim (the Chopin sonata) to quite good (the Nocturnes), although one would expect some distortion in the concerto recordings. Vox has given us better-looking and better-made booklets than in the past, and the program notes are surprisingly intelligent and thorough, considering the price you'll pay for these sets. Oh yes, the price. Vox Boxes, usually go for $5-6 per disc, which means that you can pick up all three of the sets, plus Vox Box CDX2 5501, which includes some more of Novaes's concerto recordings (Beethoven 4, Chopin 2, and Schumann, all conducted by Klemperer) and some treasurable encores, for about the cost of a routine visit to the dentist. Skip a visit, eat fewer sweets, floss more often, and buy these discs. They would make great presents for old and new CD collectors too.

-- Raymond Tuttle, FANFARE

Horenstein Conducts Strauss, Wagner, Mahler & Schoenberg