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SOMM Recordings concludes it's universally acclaimed six-volume Bruckner from the Archives series with his last two symphonies and Psalm 150. By a happy coincidence conductors Eugen Jochum and Henry Swoboda, who were featured conductors in Volume 1, make a welcome re-appearance, bringing the series to an elegant conclusion. This archival series celebrating Anton Brucker's bicentennial was conceived and designed by SOMM Executive Producer and Audio Restoration Engineer, Lani Spahr, with annotations from Professor Benjamin Korstvedt. Of Bruckner's two final symphonies Korstvedt says, Inch[With] the Eighth and the Ninth, Bruckner reached the pinnacle of symphonic achievement. They both pose considerable challenges, musically, textually and emotionally. Above all, they are unquestionably two of the greatest works in the genre, by any composer before or after.InchWhen Bruckner completed his Eighth Symphony in 1887, he asked his supporter, Hermann Levi, to conduct the premiere. When Levi responded, InchI don't have the courage to perform it, Inch Bruckner was staggered by the rejection, but didn't lose faith in his score. On 10 March 1890, he wrote Inchentirely finishedInch on a reworked version. His revisions, extensive as they were, stayed true to his original conception of the work's dramatic course, and after the premiere in 1892, Hugo Wolf called the work Incha complete victory of light over darkness.InchTo honour Bruckner's bicentennial in this last Volume 6, the Bruckner Archive offers an exciting 1957 live performance, expertly re-mastered by Lani Spahr, featuring the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra led by their founding conductor Eugen Jochum. In 1949, Jochum made the first commercial recording of the Eighth, and this present recording offers a vivid example of his distinctive way with Bruckner in his approach to the dramatic possibilities of the score.Bruckner's
